I’ve been looking into the options for email marketing so you don’t have to!
Use this to narrow down the platforms that you want to explore, I do recommend signing up to a few free trials and trying it out because you may find one feels more intuitive and enjoyable to use for you than another. Of course everything has a learning curve and I am sure that any platform would feel easy after a few uses anyway so do consider the features.
If you have the budget then I would caution against just going with the cheapest (particularly if that is because your list is small)
Don’t let your email marketing be another thing on your to do list that you are avoiding!
The key to any successful marketing strategy is erm, doing it… consistently! You want it to be easy and simple. I can be a notrious procrastinator, especially if I am feeling overwhelmed or unsure. Like this blog post in fact, I’ve felt like I should go and try out lots of different email marketing platforms to make it valuable but of course that would take a lot of time and I’m not even an email marketer for my work. Today I thought about it and I do have experience with a number of different email marketing platforms and also aware of others that I have seen recommended for different scenarios so I am just going to talk about what I’ve tried and some other suggested ones too.
Most email marketing platforms today if not all will give you a range of templates that you can choose to work from giving you a head start. Now as a branding person I will of course suggest you choose a starting point and customise it to your brand then use that going forward as your template (don’t try a completely different one each week!), you could also create a few on brand variations for different purposes such as News/Updates and Sales for example.
As long as you are using the builder within the email marketing (rather than importing code) again most should then be responsive and look great on mobile too. They will also be drag and drop, making it very easy to create your email how it needs to look.
Please note that all prices are correct at time of writing
You will see what the pros and cons are of the different platforms and whether I believe they are well suited to marketing your e-commerce business.
Email marketing software I have tried
Flodesk
Flodesk is the email marketing software I am currently using, I tried it for a little while for my illustration business a few years ago and it was at an amazing rate at the time because it was new. When I got pregnant I chose to cut down my costs so I switched that email list to Sender.net and lost my amazing pricing! However I rejoined recently after seeing them promoting a special price for their Email+Checkout option (the checkout option creates sales pages and carts, it is not designed for full e-commerce)
What I like about Flodesk:
One huge selling point for Flodesk for those with larger subscriber lists (or high volumes of orders) is that you have a set price per month for unlimited emails. You could be sending regular emails to lots of people for one pretty low fee!
From the start Flodesk has really prioritised beautiful design and they’ve recently added things like brand fonts to ensure that you can stay on brand.
What I don’t like about Flodesk:
Flodesk does seem to have a certain aesthetic that won’t work for all brands, I would say that it skews more ‘feminine’ in style.
The blocks available can feel a little restrictive, they do this intentionally to keep the design looking good but it can feel frustrating if you want to achieve a certain thing
What is Flodesk like for E-commerce?
Flodesk has integrations with WooCommerce and Shopify which will allow you to do things like transactional emails. However at this time I do think that it is better suited to service providers, bloggers/influencers or those who want to create simpler emails as it doesn’t have the option to easily add shoppable products for example.
It is still great for creating an editorial feeling email to highlight products or talk about categories of products.
Is Flodesk right for you?
Flodesk might be right for you if you want to have a set rate that won’t change as you grow your list and you like the feel of the templates they have on offer. Check that it has the features you need.
Pricing: Flodesk starts from $35 per month, which gives you completely unlimited sending and unlimited subscribers
Link to sign up for Flodesk with 50% off your first year (affiliate link)
Sender.net
Like I mentioned previously before I switched to Flodesk I was using the free plan and sent out a number of emails using it.
What I like about Sender.net:
My experience with sender.net is that it was very easy to use from the moment I opened it. The options weren’t extensive if starting from a blank template which can be quite nice. This is things like columns, text, images and buttons. They do offer workflow automations on the free plan which is awesome.
What I don’t like about Sender.net:
On the free plan you have to keep their logo in the newsletter and on your embedded form (which I did do for awhile but really for a professional experience I don’t recommend another logo being on your form).
What is Sender.net like for E-commerce?
Sender.net does integrate with Woocommerce and also works with Zapier (although you probably ideally want to skip having to use Zaps!). They do offer workflows that will enable you to create an email for abandoned carts.
Sender.net has a cool feature that will import a product from your shop – without it even being integrated, this does have a set layout of one featured product rather than a row of 2-3 products.
Is Sender.net right for you?
If you are on a budget and want a simple tool then this could be a good starter marketing tool.
Pricing:
Their free plan is generous with up to 2500 subscribers and 15000 emails per month. And the paid plans are very purse friendly too.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp have been around a really long time, they have a lot of powerful features for marketing your business. I do see more people saying that they have been getting fed up with mail chimp but I think it’s still hugely popular.
What I like about MailChimp:
It’s been a long time since I have used mail chimp honestly however I used to find it easy to use personally. Their forms were always easy to set up and embed too.
What I don’t like about MailChimp:
MailChimp used to offer a generous free plan and I believe it included automated workflows even on their lower plans but this was taken off the free plan, meaning that other services offer better value if price is a big factor.
What is MailChimp like for E-commerce?
MailChimp integrates with many e-commerce services like WooCommerce and Shopify. MailChimp offers transactional emails and they offer a product block to easily add products in to your newsletter
Is MailChimp right for you?
I think they offer a lot of features good for e-commerce and the price is competitive if your list is smaller.
Pricing:
They do have a free plan but for a lot of business use it won’t really do what you would want it to. The essential plan starts at £10.75 /month*
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is something I use regularly in my work at a marketing agency. It is easy to use and offers all the typical features you would expect from email marketing including templates and automated workflows.
What I like about Campaign Monitor:
Campaign Monitor is really easy to use, the email builder offers quite limited options and styling which offers enough flexibility without overwhelming. The structure is columns and adding elements like text, image and buttons (and honestly not much else).
What I don’t like about Campaign Monitor:
The basic styling can feel limited and blocky, which can be overcome with design skills.
What is Campaign Monitor like for E-commerce?
Campaign Monitor does have integrations for both WooCommerce and Shopify. This will enable you to send emails like abandoned cart and you can also segment your lists for more personalised emails. From my own experience and a double check on their website I am 99.99% sure you can’t add in products – you’d need to do it manually.
Is Campaign Monitor right for you?
Campaign monitor is great for a wide range of companies and industries. However I think it lacks for e-commerce specifically.
For agencies and freelancers their white label option could be attractive.
Pricing:
Pricing is on a sliding scale starting from £9 per month for the basic plan.
SendinBlue
I’ve given Send in Blue a try but haven’t gone in depth with it or used it for an actual email send.
What is SendinBlue like for E-commerce?
There is a plugin that can link it up with your Shopify store so you can connect purchasing data. It appears to have a product block that you can use to insert products from your Shopify store too.
There is also a plugin for Woocommerce that can then be used to create transactional emails beyond the basics that Woocommerce does.
Pricing
The free plan allows for 300 emails per day, then it’s £16 per month for quite a generous send allowance.
Not tried but I’ve seen recommended often:
Mailerlite
Mailerlite seems to often be recommended when people are asking for simple, low cost or free.
What is Mailerlite like for E-commerce?
I was quite surprised to see that they do indeed offer integration with WooCommerce and Shopify which even allows you to import products so you don’t have to manually add them in to the newsletter! It allows you to see how the newsletter has converted to sales too which is great. And offers the option to do transactional emails.
They’ve got some nice templates that you can get started with once customised with your own branding.
Is Mailerlite right for you?
Mailerlite does seem to be a very budget-friendly option with plenty of features. Maybe if you had a huge list and wanted a set fee something like Flodesk would be more attractive, or if you wanted really powerful e-commerce integrations then Klaviyo could be better suited. Pricing
The free plan truly offers a lot as you can send up to 12,000 monthly emails and have up to 1000 subscribers. This free plan also includes automation (and landing pages and popups).
Klaviyo
Now I haven’t tried Klaviyo myself but it’s niche is e-commerce. It’s definitely a platform I’m going to familiarise myself with a little more as I think it has a lot to offer for e-commerce in particular.
What is Klaviyo like for E-commerce?
As I’ve mentioned Klaviyo is built for e-commerce so they really prioritise the features you would want within email marketing for e-commerce. They purport to have advanced personalisation to help you segment your list for things like VIP customers or even bargain shoppers this means you can direct the right type of communication to the right customer. They allow for dynamic content to be included which can even pull in products that have been recently browsed for example.
Things like products can be added to an email and they have ‘product feeds’ such as new and best-selling.
They offer integrations with WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, Wix and more
Pricing: Klaviyo offers a limited free plan perfect for starting out, the next step up is from $20 per month for up to 500 contacts and 5000 emails.
ConvertKit
Now I have heard a lot of mention of convertkit but didn’t know much about it. On looking into it they are clearly more geared to ‘creators’ (coaches, authors, podcasters, musicians)so people trying to build an audience and selling digital products. If specifically say digital products.
Is ConvertKit right for you?
If you are selling digital products this could be one to check out as that is their focus. The unique side of this is that they are set up to offer things like sliding price scales, tip jars and subscriptions.
Convertkit pricing
For 300 subscribers you can start on the free plan but there is no automation or Creator which is $15 per month.
Other options:
Squarespace email
If you have a square space this could be a logical first step for email marketing. Thereis the appeal of having it all in one place and not having to figure out the integrations. And they do allow for automations. It looks like features are quite limited especially in terms of e-comerce.
Pricing starts at just £4 per month.
Shopify email
What is great about Shopify email is the integration it will have if you have a Shopify store. And it’s all managed from within shopify too. An interesting feature is express checkout buttons!
Every month, you can send up to 10,000 manual or automated emails for free. After that, only pay for what you use at $1 USD per 1,000 additional emails sent.
If you are planning to try a few of these options out, which I do recommend then download my handy tracker inside my resource library:
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Hey, I’m Kirsty McGill the creative behind Elm Leaf Studio. I’ve been a designer for 13 years now and building websites for most of them.
Elm Leaf Studio is a creative studio that exists to help small, ethically-minded businesses grow and thrive.
When I’m not designing I mostly spend my time running around after a toddler nowadays, and if I get a spare moment I enjoy reading, learning and making art.
