For ecommerce businesses, finding the right email marketing tool is significant. This allows them to complete half or even more of their daily tasks: engage, retain, and convert their audiences effectively.
Two strong contenders in this space are Shopify Email and Omnisend.
Omnisend has been assisting businesses in email marketing since 2014, whereas Shopify Email is a more recent entrant, founded in 2019.
Both platforms seamlessly integrate with the Shopify ecosystem, declaring easy-to-use email solutions, affordability, and ecommerce-oriented functionality. Sounds pretty similar, but they aren’t.
So what are the main differences, and which tool is right for you?
In this Shopify Email vs Omnisend comparison, we’ll compare features, pricing, customer support, and other aspects of both tools.
Let’s get started.
Shopify Email vs Omnisend: Quick overview
Omnisend stands out as a popular email marketing tool, boasting an impressive rating of 4.8/5 on the Shopify App Store.
Users appreciate its blend of advanced features and user-friendliness, making it a versatile choice. The tool also garners praise for its award-winning customer support, ensuring assistance when needed.
In contrast, Shopify Email maintains a rating of 3.8/5 on the same platform. Users applaud its simplicity and affordability, catering to those seeking straightforward solutions.
Nevertheless, concerns arise around missing features and difficulty accessing customer support promptly.
Does this make Shopify Email a wrong choice? No, it doesn’t. The tool offers Shopify merchants a compatible and convenient option that aligns well with their ecosystem.
Still, let’s find out which tool is better for you — Omnisend or Shopify Email.
Here’s a quick glimpse into how these tools compare before we proceed to a detailed feature-by-feature comparison.
The table shows that Shopify Email lacks some features compared to Omnisend.
So, what drives users to pick the tool irrespective?
Let’s find out.
Shopify Email vs Omnisend: Feature by feature
In this section of the Shopify Email vs Omnisend comparison, we’ll explore both tools, considering their ease of use, automation and segmentation features, and much more.
We’ll declare a winner for each comparison criterion to simplify your decision-making process.
Ease of getting started
Setting up your account and getting started on both platforms is effortless, even for beginners.
Operating as an app within the Shopify ecosystem, Shopify Email functions as an add-on rather than an independent entity. This means that a separate signup process or newcomer surveys aren’t necessary.
To create an account on Omnisend, you only need to share some basic information and set a password. There’s no need to share credit card details if you opt for the free plan.
After completing this step, you’ll receive straightforward guidance to acquaint you with the tool’s functions.
Shopify Email offers only a few features, so locating and understanding them is pretty clear. No additional guidance is needed.
Designed with beginners in mind, the platform provides an intuitive interface. However, Shopify Email falls short in accessibility as it exclusively caters to Shopify merchants.
On the other hand, many of Omnisend’s features are only valuable when integrated with your ecommerce store. For more straightforward requirements, you may find different tools better suited.
It’s a draw. While Omnisend provides more excellent initial guidance for users, Shopify Email is inherently straightforward to use from the outset.
Building an email campaign
You’ll find that creating engaging email campaigns is a breeze whether you choose Omnisend or Shopify Email.
Shopify Email features an easy-to-use email builder accompanied by 30+ attractive email templates. These templates cater to various needs, including holiday greetings, announcements, newsletters, and special occasions.
Omnisend’s email builder is just as good, with 250+ modern-looking templates and several formatting and product listing tools. We find Omnisend’s automatic application of brand colors and logos to emails especially useful.
The platform offers a range of email types, including standard email campaigns, A/B tests, and automated campaigns.
Additionally, you can also make the most of Omnisend’s AI-generated email campaigns, although this feature is currently in its beta version.
Shopify Email only provides regular email campaigns and email automation.
On the positive side, it’s possible to personalize these emails. You can incorporate your brand colors and logo into the email design.
Furthermore, you can tailor subject lines, preheaders, and email content to your preferences.
Omnisend on the other hand, offers all the same functionalities, and a Product recommender that significantly enhances email personalization.
Talking of unique features, Omnisend has a lot to offer. Here are a few specifically designed for ecommerce businesses:
- Product recommender
- Product picker
- Unique coupon codes
- Automated product listing
You can also preview your subject line and the preheader in the builder, which is a pretty unique offering. Another handy function is the checkbox for aligning images to the same height, instantly improving email design.
Shopify Email also provides product components, gift cards, and discount codes. But we were disappointed that the platform doesn’t offer much beyond this. It lacks an image library and functionalities like image carousels, social media embedding, and surveys.
Omnisend wins this round. It offers a richer array of unique features and a robust email builder.
Marketing automation
Shopify Email vs Omnisend: Which tool has better marketing automation capabilities?
Both tools come with intuitive automation builders.
Omnisend provides 25 pre-built automation workflows, including both email-only sequences and those containing text messages and web push notifications. The templates are tailored for the most usual ecommerce cases, like browse and cart abandonment, post-purchase, reactivation, follow-up, cross-sell, a group of transactional emails, etc.
Shopify’s ready-to-go workflows include:
- Welcome series
- Back-in-stock emails
- Customer win-back emails
- Post-purchase upsell emails or SMS
- Abandoned cart emails
- Special product releases
The workflows are easy to customize and can be launched within minutes on both platforms.
Integrating SMS and push notifications into the workflow is also possible on both platforms. But on Shopify Email, this requires installing additional apps at extra charges.
Now, let’s shift our focus to where the tools differ.
Omnisend boasts many triggers and filters that depend on different conditions, events, and behaviors.
Moreover, it facilitates cross-selling through its dynamic recommendations feature.
Similar to Omnisend, Shopify Email offers numerous triggers relevant to ecommerce. However, the conditions section wasn’t as intuitive as Omnisend.
We also found it a bit challenging to find specific triggers on Shopify Email. That said, if a required trigger is missing, you can find a solution within the other apps on the Shopify App Store. Of course, you may be asked to pay for them extra.
Omnisend wins again since its built-in automation capabilities are more robust, and you don’t need any other integrations to use SMS and push notifications.
Signup forms and landing pages
Omnisend offers comprehensive list-building capabilities.
First off, you’ll have 80+ pre-built signup forms and landing page templates to choose from. These templates are easy to customize, including the branding aspects. There’s an option to create your custom landing page for more flexibility.
What’s more, Omnisend offers many form types, including multi-step forms, popups, landing pages, teasers, and even a Wheel of Fortune for gamification.
You have the flexibility to choose from various display preferences. These include time on the page, exit intent, or scroll depth.
However, effective email campaigns demand targeted communication. This is where Omnisend’s list management features come in.
Here’s what you can expect:
- Lots of filters for segmenting your audience
- Behavior tags, including clicked, purchased, and page views
- Contact organization with tagging capabilities
- Suggestions on segment choices
- A list cleaning service to omit faulty emails
- Prevention of contact duplication across segments and lists
The only thing we find missing in Omnisend’s offerings is the A/B testing functionality for signup forms.
As for Shopify Email, you can’t build email lists without additional integrations and tools.
Luckily, many Shopify apps integrate well with your store, and you can even find free solutions to fulfill your initial list-building needs.
Omnisend is the clear winner of this round. It offers robust list-building and management capabilities within the platform.
Segmentation
Next in this Shopify Email vs Omnisend comparison, we’ll discuss both tools’ segmentation capabilities.
Omnisend provides unlimited segmentation regardless of your pricing plan, accompanied by 23 pre-built segments ready for immediate use.
You can also create custom segments. Omnisend offers six segmentation options that can all be combined within a single segment using multiple filters. These options include channels, shopping behavior, email/SMS campaign activity, contact properties, and web browsing activity.
In addition, you can leverage advanced segmentation using transactional events and purchase behaviors.
There’s also the option to extend targeting to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Google through built-in audience sync.
Lastly, you can segment your audience based on customer journey stages. This isn’t so common but can be helpful in some business cases.
Meanwhile, you won’t find stand-alone segmentation functionality by using Shopify email. This Shopify add-on uses Shopify’s main segmentation to address your email marketing needs. Due to this, with Shopify Email, you can use robust segmentation offered by Shopify to their merchants.
To make segmentation more easy, Shopify Email also offers several ready-to-audiences. Here are a few of them:
- Customers who’ve made at least one purchase
- Abandoned checkouts in the past 30 days
- Repeat buyers and non-buyers
It’s a tie. Omnisend offers robust, in-depth audience segmentation. Shopify Email uses this feature from Shopify, which is also very powerfu,l and you can get valuable insights about your customers.
Analytics
Both platforms have a reporting dashboard that presents data on various metrics. These include sent messages, click rates, open rates, conversions, etc.
On Shopify Email, you can analyze subscriber engagement trends by tracking how many recipients have:
- Opened the email
- Completed specific actions
- Experienced email bounces
It’s also possible to track how much revenue your email campaigns generate. This feature is available in Omnisend as well.
Omnisend goes the extra mile by offering advanced reporting tools. For instance, you can identify top-performing segments and compare performance across different marketing channels.
But it’s disappointing that Omnisend’s data is accessible only for the previous 18 months. Moreover, in the campaign reports, geo-location data is absent.
As for the limitations of Shopify Email’s analytics, it lacks finer details such as geographical information, device insights, and heat maps.
Omnisend takes the lead because it allows users to dig deep into their campaign performance.
Customer support
Effective customer support empowers you to maximize the potential of any tool.
In this aspect, Omnisend’s award-winning team stands out. Here’s what users get:
- Round-the-clock email and live chat support
- Swift average response time of three minutes
- Comprehensive coverage across all time zones
What’s more, all of this is available to free and paid plan users.
Standard and Pro plan users paying more than $400 monthly also receive a dedicated Customer Success Manager. The only downside is that phone support is absent in Omnisend.
Shopify Email’s customer support aligns with the broader support structure of the Shopify platform. However, just like Omnisend, it doesn’t provide phone support.
It does seem to offer live chat support, but we faced difficulty locating the widget during our review. A few users have raised this concern in their reviews as well.
Also, complaints about the support team’s limited expertise delay receiving accurate responses.
The platform does compensate with an online Help Center, though. It contains articles about store initiation, management, payments, and marketing.
But although these resources can guide you, sometimes, real-time help from a human is better.
Omnisend wins without a doubt. Its award-winning customer support is one of the best in the market.
Integrations
In this section of the Shopify Email vs Omnisend comparison, we’ll discuss how well both tools integrate with other platforms.
Omnisend offers seamless integration with 130+ apps. These include all the primary ecommerce platforms, as well as platforms for functions such as:
- Loyalty & rewards
- Customer support
- Shipping logistics
- Ad targeting and more.
Shopify Email can integrate with tons of apps from the Shopify ecosystem.
Shopify Email wins.
Compatibility with other marketing channels
Before we compare Omnisend vs Shopify Email pricing, let’s discuss one last feature — compatibility with other channels.
Omnisend facilitates smoothly incorporating SMS and web push notifications into its workflows. Furthermore, it can effectively retarget abandoned carts through Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads.
Shopify Email lacks integrations with additional channels. But again, you can always explore third-party apps from the Shopify App Store. These apps seamlessly link with your Shopify store, enabling you to take a multi-channel approach.
Omnisend wins this round by seamlessly working with various channels without additional applications.
Price Comparison
Pricing is often the deciding factor when choosing a tool, and we can understand why.
Shopify Email and Omnisend are both recognized for being budget-friendly. However, they adopt distinct pricing structures. This section will help you gain a better understanding of the same.
Free plans comparison
Whether you pick Shopify Email or Omnisend, you can opt for a free plan.
However, the offerings on both plans differ vastly. Here’s a quick overview of the inclusions:
10,000 emails a month
500 monthly emails, 60 SMS, 500 web push notifications, and the ability to reach 250 contacts
Abandoned checkout automation
Email and SMS automation
Email templates
A/B testing
- Unlimited segmentation
- Unlimited segmentation
- Pre-built popups, signup forms, and landing page builder
- 24/7 email and live chat support
- Pre-built automation workflows
- Unique tools such as Product Recommender, Product Listing, and discount coupon codes
- Analytics for all channels
Shopify Email’s monthly email-sending limit is generous. On the other hand, Omnisend’s free version boasts impressive features. Such an opportunity is beneficial for those in the process of exploring various features.
Now, let’s discuss the paid plans for both tools.
Paid plan comparison
Which tool offers better value for money — Shopify Email or Omnisend?
Omnisend offers two paid plans that follow a tiered pricing model. So, your price will depend on your email subscriber list size.
Conversely, Shopify Email has a single plan, with pricing based on the number of emails you send.
As you can see, the pricing structures of both tools are notably distinct.
If you need more clarity regarding Shopify Email’s pricing, here’s an example:
Consider sending an email to 15,000 subscribers. This number surpasses the 10,000 free monthly emails. The extra 5,000 emails cost of $5 ($1 per 1000 delivered emails).
Once you exceed a specific email threshold, the cost per email decreases, as indicated in the table ($0.65 and $0.55).
What about Omnisend’s email-sending constraints? The Standard plan entails a sending limit of 12 times your contact list. With the Pro plan, you have the freedom to send an unlimited number of emails each month.
If you have an extensive subscriber list and basic needs, Shopify Email could be suitable due to cost considerations. Omnisend’s plans get pretty expensive as your list grows.
However, there’s a significant difference in the range of features both tools provide.
If you require advanced features like detailed segmentation, automation, and in-depth analytics, consider picking Omnisend. Additionally, Omnisend’s plans are precious if your subscriber list is small.
Shopify Email vs Omnisend: Which one wins?
Both Shopify Email and Omnisend exhibit significant differences across most aspects. To recap, here’s a brief overview of the key points covered in the article:
3.4
4.8
Free plan – Yes
There’s just one paid plan based on the number of emails you send.
– Up to 10,000 emails free
– $1 per 1,000 emails above 10,000 emails
– $0.65 per 1,000 emails above 300,000 emails
– $0.55 per 1,000 emails above 750,000 emails
Free plan – Yes
500 subscribers – $16
1,000 subscribers – $20
5,000 subscribers – $65
10,000 subscribers – $115
50,000 subscribers – $330
100,000 subscribers – $720
– 10,000 emails per month
– Checkout abandonment automation emails
– Email templates
– All Pro plan features (automation workflows, A/B testing, unlimited segmentation, gamification, signup forms, landing pages, etc.)
– Reach up to 250 contacts (unlimited contact list size)
– 500 emails per month
– Up to 60 SMS
– Up to 500 web push notifications
– 24/7 email and live chat support
– Very easy to use
– Clear navigation
– Beautiful templates
– Free automation
– Copy-ready emails
– Shopify segmentation
– Robust automation
– Advanced analytics
– Beautiful signup forms
– Modern-looking newsletters
– Limited to Shopify users
– Basic reporting
– Integrations and other channels come with added costs
– No geopolitical reports
– More expensive than generic email marketing tools
– Email marketing beginners
– Small Shopify merchants
– Ecommerce stores of all sizes
– Both beginners and advanced users
– Established ecommerce businesses
– Solopreneurs
– Bloggers
– Governmental and non-governmental organizations
For online merchants who prefer staying within the Shopify ecosystem, Shopify Email is a fitting choice. It’s particularly significant for those seeking simplicity or working with smaller subscriber lists.
But if you’re looking for advanced features or omnichannel marketing capabilities, consider Omnisend.
Choosing between Shopify Email and Omnisend is straightforward due to their clear feature and pricing variations.
If you’re still uncertain, take advantage of both platforms’ free plans to test their features and make an informed choice.
Read full reviews
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Our team strives to be accurate and unbiased in reviewing email tools. However, we recognize that mistakes can happen, and it’s essential for us to stay up to date. If you come across any errors or things that need to be reviewed again, please let us know.
