As an eCommerce business, you manage a product catalog with ever-changing inventory, coordinate time-sensitive seasonal campaigns around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and compete for attention in crowded inboxes full of promotional emails. How do you win back buyers who add items but never complete their purchase?
Email marketing software solves these challenges by automating shopping cart recovery sequences, segmenting customers based on purchasing patterns, and personalizing product recommendations at scale. The payoff is huge: E-commerce has the highest email marketing ROI of any industry: $45 for every $1 spent, according to data from litmus. E-commerce company Spocket doubled their conversion rate using HubSpot Marketing Hub’s email sequences and workflow automation. However, achieving such ROI requires the right email marketing tools.
This guide compares the seven best email marketing tools for eCommerce businesses, including detailed pricing, feature breakdown, and step-by-step instructions for choosing the right platform. We used AI for research and drafting, led by a HubSpot employee who reviewed and edited this article before publication.
Table of contents
What is Email Marketing for Ecommerce?
Email marketing for eCommerce involves sending targeted email campaigns to customers and prospects to boost product sales, recover abandoned carts, and increase repeat purchases. Online stores use email marketing software to automate personalized messages triggered by shopping behaviors such as browsing products, adding items to cart, or completing purchases, turning one-time shoppers into loyal repeat customers. HubSpot Marketing Hub integrates with eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce to automate these campaigns directly from its CRM.
Comparison table
|
Email marketing tool |
Best for |
Key Features |
Prices |
|
HubSpot Marketing Hub |
B2B and B2C e-commerce companies want an email marketing tool with integrated CRM as well as sales, service and operations tools |
Unified customer profiles for data-driven eCommerce personalization, AI-powered email generation and optimization, native eCommerce integrations with automatic data sync |
Free plan. Paid plans start at $15/month/seat (billed monthly). |
|
Klaviyo |
E-commerce companies looking to optimize email and SMS on one platform |
Multi-channel automation flows for revenue generation, predictive analytics and segmentation, supported by integrated CDP, AI-powered optimization and content generation |
Free plan. Paid email plans start at $20/month. |
|
Zoho campaigns |
Companies focused on B2C marketing or organizations already using the broader Zoho ecosystem (e.g. Zoho CRM) and looking for an integrated marketing suite |
Optimal airtime optimization to maximize engagement, multi-channel marketing automation journeys, integrations with other Zoho apps and external apps |
Free plan. Paid plans start at $4/month (billed monthly). 14-day free trial available. |
|
Mailchimp |
Small businesses or organizations mainly focus on B2C eCommerce marketing and customer loyalty |
Predictive segmentation and personalization to increase sales, marketing automation flows (Customer Journey Builder), extensive native and API integrations |
Free plan. Paid plans start at $13/month. 14-day free trial available. |
|
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) |
Creators (such as bloggers, consultants, and educators) who sell digital products/subscriptions |
Monetization tools (digital products and paid newsletters), visual automation builders (Flows), creator-focused integrations (Kit App Store) |
Free plan. Paid plans start at $39/month (billed monthly). 14-day free trial available. |
|
ActiveCampaign |
E-commerce companies need sophisticated cross-channel automation (email, SMS, WhatsApp) for retention marketing |
Sophisticated marketing automation engine, cross-channel communication (SMS & WhatsApp), extensive integrations and customizations |
Free trial available. Paid plans start at $19/month. |
|
MailerLite |
E-commerce companies and small businesses/creatives are looking for an easy-to-use platform with high deliverability for monetization and retention |
Ecommerce automation templates, direct selling of digital products and subscriptions, best-in-class deliverability and core integrations |
Free plan. Paid plans start at $10/month (billed monthly). 14-day free trial available. |
Best Email Marketing Software for Ecommerce Businesses
The following eCommerce email marketing tools offer native eCommerce integrations, automated cart abandonment workflows, and impressive segmentation features. Each platform differs in price, complexity and specific strengths. So, take a look at the features and use cases to find out which one best suits your business needs.
1. HubSpot Marketing Hub
Best suited for: B2B and B2C e-commerce companies want an email marketing tool with integrated CRM as well as sales, service and operations tools
Key HubSpot features:
- Unified customer profiles for data-driven eCommerce personalization – HubSpot’s Smart CRM automatically connects customer interactions and provides eCommerce companies with comprehensive insights into shopping behavior, purchase history, and customer preferences without the need for separate integrations. This enables deeper segmentation and personalized email campaigns based on complete customer data.
- AI-powered email generation and optimization – Save time on email creation with Breeze, HubSpot’s AI tools that design subject lines and email copy, test performance fluctuations, and optimize campaigns.
- Native eCommerce integrations with automatic data sync – HubSpot connects to major eCommerce platforms including Shopify, BigCommerceAnd WooCommerceAutomatically syncs customer data with your CRM for personalized email campaigns based on shopping behavior.
- Free Plan available for up to two users, no credit card required.
- Marketing Hub Starter: $15/month/seat (billed monthly) for up to 1,000 marketing contacts.
- Marketing Hub Professional: $890/month (billed monthly). Includes three core seats and up to 2,000 marketing contacts.
- Marketing Hub Enterprise: $3,600/month (billed annually only). Includes five core seats and up to 10,000 marketing contacts.
Notes: You can store non-marketing contacts in the CRM for free, up to 15 million contacts in total. If necessary, you can pay for additional marketing contacts. There is a one-time professional onboarding fee of $3,000. There is a one-time enterprise onboarding fee of $7,000.
2. Klaviyo
Best suited for: E-commerce companies looking to optimize email and SMS on one platform
Key features of Klaviyo:
- Multi-channel automation flows for revenue generation – Create automated email, SMS and push notification sequences triggered by specific customer events such as sign-ups, purchases, browsing behavior or cart abandonment, with pre-built flows for welcome series, win-back campaigns and post-purchase follow-ups.
- Predictive analytics and segmentation through integrated CDP – The Customer Data Platform automatically centralizes all customer information, including purchases, website activity and preferences, and updates profiles in real-time as customers browse products or take actions.
- AI-powered optimization and content generation – Use AI tools to generate subject lines and email copy using natural language input, implement automated A/B testing to identify successful content variations, and leverage Smart Send Time optimization that predicts when each subscriber is most likely to interact.
- Free plan available for up to 250 active profiles, 500 emails per month and 150 mobile credits per month.
- Upgrade to 500 active profiles, 5,000 emails, and 150 mobile messaging credits per month for $20/month.
3. Zoho campaigns
Best suited for: Companies focused on B2C marketing or organizations already using the broader Zoho ecosystem (e.g. Zoho CRM) and looking for an integrated marketing suite
Key Features of Zoho Campaigns:
- Optimize send time to maximize engagement – Automatically delivers emails when each recipient is most likely to interact based on their individual behavior patterns, helping e-commerce companies reach customers in their optimal window of engagement.
- Multi-channel marketing automation journeys – Create visual marketing automation flows that orchestrate complex nurturing strategies across multiple touchpoints beyond just email.
- Integrations with other Zoho apps and external apps – Integrate Zoho Campaigns with Zoho CRM, Zoho Commerce or Zoho Survey to sync data and extend marketing workflows. Connect to external apps like Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce or HubSpot. Use Zoho Flow to connect to 300+ apps beyond native integrations.
Zoho Campaigns offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card required).
- Free forever: $0 for up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails per month.
- standard: Starting at $4/month billed monthly for up to 500 contacts and unlimited emails with easy segmentation.
- professional: Starting at $6/month billed monthly for up to 500 contacts and unlimited emails with advanced segmentation.
4. Mailchimp
Best suited for: Small businesses or organizations mainly focus on B2C eCommerce marketing and customer loyalty
Key Mailchimp features:
- Predictive segmentation and personalization to increase sales – Categorize audiences based on predictive data points such as customer lifetime value and purchase probability during the campaign strategy phase. By connecting directly to your eCommerce store, personalized product recommendations will automatically appear in emails.
- Marketing Automation Flows (Customer Journey Builder) – Map and automate sequences triggered by contact actions, such as: B. Abandoned cart reminders. Flows can include emails, SMS messages, multivariate tests, and social media posts.
- Extensive native and API integrations – Sync customer data across platforms with over 300 integrations, including popular native connections to Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce, Zapier, and Square.
- Free: $0 with a maximum of 1,000 email sends per month or 500 per day.
- Essentials: Starting at $13/month for up to 500 contacts. 14-day free trial available.
- standard: Starting at $20/month for up to 500 contacts. 14-day free trial available.
5. Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Best suited for: Creators (such as bloggers, consultants, and educators) who sell digital products/subscriptions
Key features of the kit:
- Monetization tools (digital products and paid newsletters) – Earn recurring revenue by running a paid newsletter and selling digital products and memberships directly to your audience. Create customizable sales pages and simple checkout flows directly on the platform, with products set for one-time purchase or recurring subscriptions.
- Visual Automation Builder (Flows) – Organize your audience by interests using tags and segments to ensure the right people receive the right message at the right time. Create customer nurturing email funnels and sales sequences triggered by user behavior, including shared paths and automated email sequences such as welcome or content series.
- Creator-focused integrations (Kit App Store) – Connect over 100 direct apps that integrate creator tools directly with Kit, expanding functionality and reducing manual tasks. Examples include Shopify for e-commerce, Canva for media gallery access, and Thinkific for online courses that support various workflows including content creation, scheduling, and e-commerce.
- Newsletter (free): $0 for up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited emails.
- Creator: Starting at $39/month billed monthly for up to 1,000 subscribers.
- Creator Pro: Starting at $79/month billed monthly for up to 1,000 subscribers.
6. ActiveCampaign
Best suited for: E-commerce companies need sophisticated cross-channel automation (email, SMS, WhatsApp) for retention marketing
Key ActiveCampaign features:
- Sophisticated marketing automation engine – Automate and optimize advanced customer journeys with workflows based on sophisticated triggers, split branches, and complex logic that adjust campaigns based on customer health and feature adoption.
- Cross-channel communication (SMS & WhatsApp) – Send personalized messages via email, SMS and WhatsApp as part of multi-channel marketing automation workflows. WhatsApp is available as an integration with workflow and inbox management tools. SMS is available as an add-on.
- Extensive integrations and customizations – Connect customer data from external systems and third-party tools with around 1,000 integrations into marketing workflows.
ActiveCampaign offers a free trial. Paid plans are as follows:
- starter: Starting at $19/month (month by month) up to 1,000 contacts.
- Plus: Starting at $59/month (month to month) for up to 1,000 contacts.
- professional: Starts at $89/month for up to 1,000 contacts, with a one-year term billed monthly. Please note that if you cancel early, you will still have to pay your monthly installments until the end of the annual term.
- Pursue: $159/month for up to 1,000 contacts, with annual monthly payment. Please note that if you cancel early, you will still have to pay your monthly installments until the end of the annual term.
7. MailerLite
Best suited for: E-commerce companies and small businesses/creatives are looking for an easy-to-use platform with high deliverability for monetization and retention
Key MailerLite features:
- Ecommerce automation templates – Automatically convert interest into sales with triggers based on purchase intent. Choose from 15 pre-built automation templates, including post-purchase, welcome emails, and abandoned cart sequences, to quickly create professional email workflows.
- Direct sales of digital products and subscriptions – Create, promote and sell digital products, memberships and paid newsletter subscriptions directly in MailerLite. Connect to a Stripe account to process payments.
- Best-in-class deliverability and core integrations – Help eCommerce emails avoid the spam folder and get seen by customers with high deliverability. Automatically sync data from major eCommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and payment processors like Stripe via pre-built integrations.
MailerLite offers a 14-day free trial. The plans are as follows:
- Free: $0 for up to 500 subscribers and 12,000 monthly emails.
- Growing business: Starting at $10/month billed monthly for up to 500 subscribers and unlimited monthly emails.
- Progressive: Starting at $20/month billed monthly for up to 500 subscribers and unlimited monthly emails.
Benefits of Email Marketing Software for Ecommerce
Reduce cart abandonment.
Recover lost sales with automated emails that encourage customers to come back and complete their purchases. B2C companies can connect their shop to HubSpot Automate abandoned cart emails.
Find out which products generate the most conversions.
With an analytics dashboard, you can see opens, clicks, conversions, and see which products drove the most conversions. HubSpot Marketing Hub has advanced marketing reportingso you can link email campaigns to sales results.
Personalize marketing emails at scale.
Email marketing software segments customers based on purchase history, browsing behavior, and interaction patterns and automatically sends relevant product recommendations and personalized content to each segment. Because Marketing Hub is powered by HubSpot Smart CRM, you can leverage customer data to support your email campaigns. HubSpots Personalization token And dynamic content Make sure each email feels tailored to the audience segment.
Increase customer lifetime value.
Automated drip campaigns keep your brand top of mind for customers long after the initial purchase, nurturing relationships and encouraging repeat orders over time.
5 Important Features for Ecommerce Email Marketing Software
- Advanced analytics and reporting. Track email opens, clicks, conversions, and revenue attribution on the same platform to optimize campaigns and prove ROI without switching between tools. HubSpot offers customizable reports and analytics for all customer data (marketing, sales and service). Multi-touch revenue attribution reports are available in Marketing Hub Enterprise to measure the impact of each touchpoint on revenue.
- Integrations with eCommerce software. Native connections to major eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, and Square ensure customer data automatically flows into your email marketing tool for personalized campaigns. HubSpot offers over 1,900 integrations (including Shopify, BigCommerceAnd WooCommerce), plus Commerce Hub for B2B commerce features such as CPQ, billing and payments as part of the unified customer platform.
- Automated workflows. Email automation workflows trigger campaigns based on customer behavior such as cart abandonment, product purchases, or browsing activity, saving time and delivering timely, relevant messages. HubSpot Marketing Hub supports powerful email automation that directly links emails to lead behavior and lifecycle stages.
- SMS functions. E-commerce companies have found significant success by combining email marketing and SMS marketing to reach customers across multiple channels. HubSpot has one SMS add-on Available to US customers with Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise plans.
- The ability to grow as your business scales. Your email marketing tool should handle increasing contact volumes, more complex workflows, and growing team demands as your eCommerce business grows. Marketing Hub is part of the HubSpot Customer Platform, a complete solution of sales, marketing and service tools powered by a Smart CRM, ensuring your marketing software shares the same data with sales and customer service to create incredibly targeted campaigns that scale with your business.
How to Choose an Email Marketing Tool for Ecommerce (Step by Step)
Step 1: Map your current eCommerce workflows.
List all customer touchpoints where email plays a role, from welcome sequences and abandoned cart recovery to post-purchase follow-ups and win-back campaigns. Understanding your existing customer journey will help you identify which automation features you’ll actually use and which useful features you’ll pay for but never implement.
Step 2: Identify must-have integrations.
Determine which eCommerce platform, payment processor, and other tools your email marketing software needs to connect with to automatically sync customer data. Native integrations with your existing tech stack (like Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce) eliminate manual data entry and ensure your email campaigns leverage real-time purchasing and browsing behavior.
Step 3: Assess automation and segmentation capabilities.
Test how easily you can create segments based on purchase history, browsing behavior, and customer value, then create automated workflows triggered by specific eCommerce events. With the right platform, you should be able to set up abandon orders for shopping carts, product recommendation emails, and customer lifecycle campaigns without requiring developer resources.
Step 4: Check prices as your contact list grows.
Calculate costs based on your current contact count, then predict what you’ll pay if your list doubles or triples as your business grows. Many email marketing tools seem affordable at 1,000 contacts, but become prohibitively expensive at 10,000 or 50,000 contacts. So knowing the long-term costs will help you avoid budget surprises.
Step 5: Choose a platform that grows with your business.
Choose an email marketing tool that can handle increasing complexity as you expand from simple newsletters to sophisticated multi-channel campaigns with advanced segmentation and attribution tracking. Watchmaker CODE41 sends 2.5 million emails per month using HubSpot’s email marketing tool to manage its community of half a million supporters with advanced list segmentation that improves conversions.
How to create email marketing campaigns for eCommerce
1. Define your email marketing goals and KPIs.
Decide what you want to achieve with each campaign, whether it’s increasing product sales, recovering abandoned carts, increasing repeat purchases, or growing your email list. Set specific metrics to track success, such as: B. Conversion rate, sales per email, click rate or average order value.
2. Create a calendar for seasonal campaigns.
Plan email campaigns around key shopping seasons like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, holiday gift guides, and back-to-school seasons when customers are actively looking to purchase. Schedule promotional emails, product launches, and exclusive offers to align with these purchase intent windows.
3. Set up automated year-round campaigns.
Nurturing your list throughout the year will keep cash flow strong even after Black Friday is over. Create evergreen automated workflows that run continuously, e.g. B. Welcome series for new subscribers and win-back campaigns for former customers.
4. Segment your list by purchasing behavior.
Group customers by purchase history, browsing activity, customer lifetime value, and engagement level to send more relevant product recommendations and offers to each segment. Make sure you have the appropriate opt-in consent.
5. Subject lines and content of the A/B test.
Test different subject lines, email designs, product placements, call-to-action buttons, and send times to find what resonates best with your audience. Start with simple tests comparing two variants, then expand to multivariate tests as you collect more data.
6. Analyze and optimize performance.
View your email analytics dashboard to see which campaigns drove the most sales, which products performed best, and where customers churned. Use these insights to refine your segmentation, tailor your messaging, improve your product recommendations, and repeat successful patterns in future campaigns.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best email marketing tool for eCommerce?
The best email marketing tool for eCommerce depends on the size of your business, your budget, and your specific needs. HubSpot Marketing Hub is the first choice for companies that want unified marketing, sales, and service tools with native eCommerce integrations, advanced automation, and revenue attribution reporting. Klaviyo is great for companies that prioritize email and SMS optimization with predictive analytics, while Zoho Campaigns offers the most cost-effective option for companies already using the Zoho ecosystem. For budget-conscious startups, MailerLite offers strong deliverability and eCommerce automation templates starting at just $10/month.
What features should I look for in email marketing tools for eCommerce?
Look for native integrations with your eCommerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce) that automatically sync customer and product data. Advanced features include automated workflows for cart abandonment and post-purchase sequences, segmentation based on purchasing behavior and customer lifetime value, predictive analytics to target high-value customers, and revenue attribution reporting to track which campaigns are driving sales. Multi-channel functions (email + SMS), A/B testing and personalization tools such as dynamic product recommendations are also important for maximizing conversions.
Is HubSpot good for eCommerce?
Yes, HubSpot Marketing Hub is well suited for eCommerce businesses, especially those who want unified marketing, sales, and service tools. HubSpot offers native integrations with major eCommerce platforms including Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and Square, which automatically sync customers’ purchase data with the Smart CRM. The platform supports eCommerce-specific automations such as abandoned cart emails, post-purchase follow-ups, and customer recovery campaigns.
How much does email marketing software for eCommerce cost?
The cost of email marketing software for eCommerce varies greatly depending on the features and size of the contact list. HubSpot offers a free plan for up to 2,000 email sends per month, Zoho Campaigns’ Forever Free plan allows for up to 2,000 contacts, and MailerLite’s free plan can accommodate up to 500 subscribers. Kit has an impressive free plan that gives you up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited email sends. Paid eCommerce email marketing software plans in this article typically start between $4 and $20 per month for small contact lists (500 to 1,000 contacts), with costs scaling depending on the number of contacts you have. Mid-range plans range from $49 to $89/month, while enterprise solutions like HubSpot Marketing Hub Enterprise start at $3,600/month for 10,000 marketing contacts with advanced features like multi-touch revenue attribution.
Meet HubSpot, the best email marketing choice for eCommerce businesses
Marketing Hub is built on the all-in-one customer platform HubSpot, so you can connect your email marketing, sales and customer service and power your marketing efforts with CRM data.
- Native eCommerce integrations with automatic data sync – HubSpot connects to major eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento, and automatically syncs data directly to your CRM for personalized email campaigns based on customer behavior.
- Multi-channel marketing automation workflows – Create sophisticated automated email sequences that are triggered based on customer behavior such as cart abandonment or product views. See HubSpot Marketing Hub customers using automation 34x more inbound leads.
- Advanced analytics and revenue attribution reporting – Track email opens, clicks, conversions and revenue attribution on the same platform to optimize campaigns and prove ROI. Multi-touch revenue attribution reports (available in Marketing Hub Enterprise) measure the impact of each touchpoint on revenue.
Household appliances manufacturer InSinkErator increased eCommerce sales by 27% using HubSpot’s email marketing and automation to send targeted campaigns.
Bespoke sock makers Sock club shortened their sales cycle from 22 days to 11 days using HubSpot’s personalized and segmented email campaigns with automated follow-up workflows.
Join other eCommerce brands growing with HubSpot email marketing. Get started with HubSpot today.