Shopify Email Marketing & Automations: Easy Steps, Top Tools & Plugins for 2023
Online buying and selling are very popular today. People are leaving brick-and-mortar stores for eCommerce platforms. It’s now possible to order items of your choice from the comfort of your home using your hand-held device and have them delivered to your doorstep. However, this doesn’t come easy for eCommerce store owners.
Table of Contents
Shopify is a leading E-Commerce Platform that caters to a large number of sellers, from Small businesses in the field to medium-sized organizations. It allows sellers to sell products in various ways like online shopping, offline shopping, and selling through the point of sale through a car boot or garage. Since it offers high-level functionality it has gathered a large number of users.
Shopify offers various tools that would increase the efficiency of eCommerce and provide valuable Insights. Running a personal eCommerce Store can be a daunting task. There is a lot that one has to do, including marketing, secure checkout, product shipping, and optimization of speed. Over time, industries across the world have evolved and adapted different forms of Marketing strategies. Among these, one of the most efficient methods is Email Marketing.
This article will provide you information about the benefits of Email marketing and the steps to implement Shopify Email Marketing. You will also gain a holistic understanding of Shopify, its key features, and the top 5 Shopify Email Marketing Plugins and tools. Read along to find out the best Shopify Email Marketing Plugins for your business and the steps involved to use Shopify Email Marketing Tool.
Table of contents
- Introduction to Shopify
- Advantages of Shopify
- Understanding Email Marketing
- Steps for using Shopify Email Marketing Tool
- Top 5 Shopify Email Marketing Plugins
- Conclusion
Introduction to Shopify
Shopify is an eCommerce platform that you can use to build both an online and offline store. As bloggers use WordPress, store owners use Shopify. It helps you to sell both online and offline using your website and Shopify POS. The Shopify eCommerce Website Builder has features for all individuals including beginners and eCommerce experts.
Shopify is a Cloud-based SaaS platform that makes it easy for you to sell goods online. Shopify hosts your business and helps it to grow by allowing you to conduct transactions, customize your website and market your products. Shopify provides users with multiple plans and pricing to choose from, making it a suitable option for Startups and even Enterprises. You can customize your website as per your liking with Shopify’s easy-to-use Design Templates.
Shopify allows you to run an eCommerce business. To run an eCommerce Store, you should open a storefront, showcase your products, accept payments, engage with your customers, and more. There are different Shopify Tools that you can use to help you manage these activities.
Various products or services that you can sell on Shopify:
- Physical Products: Shopify allows you to perform the door-step delivery of the products you’ve manufactured that can be door-shipped to the customer. These include anything like printed mugs/t-shirts, jewellery, gifts, etc.
- Digital Products: Digital Products can include e-books, audio, course material, etc.
- Services and Consultation: If you’re providing services like life consultation, home-cooked delicacies, event planning, or anything else, Shopify has got you covered.
- Memberships: Various memberships such as gym memberships, yoga classes membership, event membership, etc. can be sold to the customers.
- Experiences: Event-based experiences like adventurous sports and travel, mountain trekking, wine tasting, events, and hands-on workshops. You can use Shopify to sell tickets for these experiences as well.
- Rentals: If you’re running rental services like apartment rentals, rental taxis, or gadgets, you can use Shopify to create ads and engage with the customer.
- Classes: Online studies, fitness classes can be advertised here.
For further information on Shopify, you can follow the Official Documentation.
Key Features of Shopify
The key features of Shopify are as follows:
- Detailed Shopify Admin
- Free Features
- Shopify is on a Cloud Network
- Plans for Everyone
- Tons of Apps
- Wide Range of Support
- Low Barrier to Entry
1) Detailed Shopify Admin
In Shopify, you’ll find a whole range of reports and features that help you understand how your online store is performing. You can view the number of orders, your best-performing product pages, real-time view of your website visitors. Shopify is a comprehensive tool for an online retailer, allowing you to get an in-depth understanding of all of your online store’s details.
2) Free Features
Usually, for a new website/store you would need to pay for the themes used. But on Shopify, a free theme is loaded onto your store automatically that you can start customizing the way you want. You even have the freedom to customize your website according to your branding style. You can choose free fonts (already installed on your store), or modify the color scheme, add your photos, and more. There are also thousands of eCommerce-themed stock photos you can choose from, taken by Shopify photographers.
3) Shopify is on a Cloud Network
Your website would be hosted on a Cloud network instead of a Server. Servers tend to crash at the wrong times and incur huge losses. Servers often crash on Black Friday or during big events. By being on a Cloud network, the possibility of the website crashing is rare, allowing you to run your business with ease of mind. Being on a Cloud network also allows for Google Search Console Integration seamlessly.
4) Plans for Everyone
There are costs associated with running a business. You’ll need to pay for Products, Marketing Costs, New Domain, and of course Shopify. But Shopify has a pricing plan for everyone. You can pay for Shopify Lite for only $9 a month if you are a beginner or on a tight budget. Shopify Plus is used for white-glove service. You can change the plans as your business grows.
5) Tons of Apps
There’s an app for almost everything in the Shopify App Store. You’ll find Countdown Timers, Image Background Removers, and so much more. While there are a lot of paid apps, there’s also a bunch of free apps in the store. Adding an app to your website isn’t necessary.
6) Wide Range of Support
Shopify wants you to succeed on its platform. Shopify has a dedicated blog section that is run by experts to provide valuable tactics for businesses to run on Shopify. Shopify Academy/ Shopify Compass is a place where you can take free E-commerce courses and learn at your own pace. It has many customer support representatives who will happily answer any questions you have. There are even Facebook Groups created by Shopify users who want to help new store owners succeed. The support ecosystem at Shopify is massive.
7) Low Barrier to Entry
Shopify is an eCommerce platform that helps you build your store both online and offline. This eCommerce Website Builder has features for everyone from beginners to eCommerce experts. Anyone can start a Shopify Store. Shopify is leading the initiative of lowering barriers to eCommerce.
Advantages of Shopify
The advantages of using Shopify are as follows:
1) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The biggest advantage of using Shopify is that the users get access to the platform’s advanced Search Engine Optimization tool that enables the user to rank their products higher on Google Search Results. Shopify also has inbuilt Analytics tools to help users identify their website’s traffic that allows them to plan an informed business strategy.
2) Security
Businesses involved in the eCommerce industry often need to protect sensitive and private information of their customers like Bank Account details, Residential Addresses, Mobile numbers, etc. Hence, it becomes necessary for an online store to keep this information secured from the hands of fraudsters. Shopify provides an excellent Security Service that eliminates the risks of a data breach.
3) Wide Range of Plugins
Another massive advantage of using Shopify is that it supports thousands of plugins that users can leverage to customize their website and add new features. This helps increase the responsiveness of websites and generate various insights that assist users in understanding their audience better.
4) Compatibility with Mobile Devices
In today’s time, most of the customers who order products online use mobile to access eCommerce websites. Therefore it becomes crucial for websites to be compatible with smartphones. Using Shopify, businesses can build aesthetic-looking websites that are optimized for mobiles.
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Understanding Email Marketing
Email Marketing is a type of Direct Channel Marketing that is used for the promotion of products and to initiate conversations with potential or existing customers. This strategy is primarily used to inform customers about the latest product additions, discounts, and offers that the company is providing.
Email Marketing can also be used to introduce a product to the target audience to build a sense of curiosity in them to know more about it. This is a very effective method used by several businesses to generate new leads and keep the customers engaged during the time spent in between order placement and delivery. However, it is vital to draft the emails carefully as a lot of annoying emails may turn a potential customer away from the brand.
Email Marketing can also be used by businesses to send personalized emails on special functions like anniversaries and birthdays to their customers, which would increase brand value and customer loyalty. According to a report, Email Marketing is an inexpensive Marketing tool as it can generate a return of $42 on a spending of only $1 on an average.
Benefits of Email Marketing
The benefits of Email Marketing are as follows:
1) Personalized Emails
Email Marketing allows businesses to create numerous lists of their customers segregated by certain criteria. With this, it becomes possible to send specific content to the related target audience that would develop an interest in any product or service. It also increases the Brand value as customers do not feel that the company has sent bulk Emails to non-targeted audiences.
2) Affordable
Email Marketing is one of the most affordable forms of Direct Marketing. There is no need for any form of Advertising. Hence the Return on Investment (ROI) Ratio is considerably high when compared to others like advancements in television, magazines, newspapers, and billboards.
3) Impulsive Buying
Email Marketing allows businesses to send lucrative offers and the buying link in the same Email. This arouses a sense of impulsiveness in the buyer to order the product quickly as all the resources are available in a single message.
4) Builds Customer Relationships
Email Marketing lets businesses send special offers to their customers on occasions like birthdays that helps to develop a connection between the Brand and the customer. It can also be used to send fresh and relevant content to customers on a regular basis directly to their inbox to keep them updated and engaged.
5) Easy to Analyze
Most of the software or plugins used for Email Marketing provide simple analytics tools that show details like Conversion Rate, Number of Clicks, and lots more that enables businesses to figure out where they are lacking and make immediate changes to resolve issues.
Steps for using Shopify Email Marketing Tool
Using Shopify, one can easily create an Email Marketing Campaign.
The steps followed to use Shopify Email Marketing Tool are as follows:
- Log in your to Shopify account.
- Click on the “Marketing” button in your Shopify account.
- Click on “Create Campaign”.
- Click on the “Shopify Email” button.
- Select the desired Email template from the list of templates.
- Then click on the “To” field to select from existing Customer Lists.
- Write a Subject for the Email.
- After you set up the Email activity details, you can customize the Email body content. The customizable options are:
- Header: Include an image, the name of your business, and a logo.
- Text: Enter text and links.
- Picture: Choose an image from your Shopify store, upload a new image, or add an image from Burst.
- Product: Link to a product in your Shopify store.
- Footer: To customize the material at the foot of the Email, include your Shop’s address, Phone number, and Social Media links.
- Now, you can send or schedule the mail to a specific time.
Top 5 Shopify Email Marketing Plugins
Apart from using Shopify Email Marketing Tool, Shopify also has numerous Plugins for the purpose of creating Email Marketing Campaigns because of a majority of limitations with the Shopify Email Marketing Tool.
The top 5 Shopify Email Marketing Plugins are as follows:
- Shopify Email Marketing Plugin: Klaviyo
- Shopify Email Marketing Plugin: Sendinblue
- Shopify Email Marketing Plugin: Omnisend
- Shopify Email Marketing Plugin: Marsello
- Shopify Email Marketing Plugin: SmartrMail
1) Klaviyo
Klaviyo is a Marketing Automation Plugin founded in 2012 by Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallan. The plugin helps businesses to effectively design their Email Marketing Campaigns for their Shopify stores. It is equipped with a high-end Predictive Analytics tool that allows Marketers to generate insights for the optimal Send Time, Lifetime Value, scrutinize Potential Risks, and many more. Apart from Emails, users can also automate SMS Marketing Campaigns with Klaviyo. Hence, Klaviyo is an efficient Shopify Email Marketing Plugin.
Klaviyo’s Pricing Model
For Email Marketing, Klaviyo can be used for free to send emails to up to 250 contacts. Klaviyo charges $20 per month to provide unlimited emails for 500 contacts with email and chat support.
- 0 – 500 subscribers: free
- 501- 750 subscribers: $20/month
- 751 – 1000 subscribers: $30/month
- 1001 – 1500 subscribers: $45/month
- 1501 – 2000 subscribers: $60/month and so on.
For further information about Klaviyo’s pricing model, visit here.
2) Sendinblue
Sendinblue is one of the leading Shopify Plugins that take care of the necessary requirements of its clients to design and carry out their Email Marketing Campaigns. The plugin is developed by a France-based digital marketing company founded by Armand Thiberge and Kapil Sharma in 2007. Apart from standard email marketing features, the application also provides customer relationship management service, marketing automation, and SMS marketing. This Shopify Email Marketing Plugin comes with a precisely developed segmentation feature that allows its users to send emails to a huge target audience.
Sendiblue’s Pricing Model
Sendinblue provides a free 30-days trial in which users can send up to 300 Emails per day to unlimited contacts. They have 4 Pricing plans i.e., Free Version, Lite Version, Premium Version, and Enterprise Version. The most popular is their Premium Package that offers marketing automation, unlimited emails, telephone support, multi-user access, and many more at a price of $52.5 per month.
For further information about Sendinblue’s pricing model, visit here.
3) Omnisend
Omnisend is a One-stop Solution for all Marketing needs. The plugin provides various services like Marketing Automation, Email Marketing, SMS Marketing, Product and Customer Retention Analytics, Campaign and Automation Reports, and lots more. Omnisend is a London-based Marketing company specifically working in the eCommerce industry. It was founded by Rytis Lauris and Zygimantas Stauga in 2013. The plugin has by far received over 4000 positive reviews on the Shopify application. Apart from Shopify, the plugin also supports other famous eCommerce Platforms. It proves to be one of the most efficient Shopify Email Marketing Plugins.
Omnisend’s Pricing Model
Omnisend is available for a 30-days free trial that includes 15000 emails per month, sales and performance reports, segmentation, and customer analytics. The app also provides various other monthly paid plans with added features.
For further information about Omnisend’s Pricing plans, visit here.
4) Marsello
Marsello is an Omnichannel Retail Marketing Solution that serves every need of a business for designing and running an effective Email Marketing Campaign. The plugin comes with salient features like Marketing Automation, Reward Points Program, Email, SMS Campaigns, Customer Feedback Surveys, Accurate Analytics, and many more. Marsello is a New Zealand-based virtual marketing assistant developed by Brady Thomas and Matt Thomas and proves to be one of the most efficient Shopify Email Marketing Plugins.
Marsello’s Pricing Model
Marsello has an online subscription cost calculator on its website, which enables businesses to customize plans according to requirements. The minimum subscription is $99 per month for Shopify.
For further information about Marsello’s Pricing plans, visit here.
5) SmartrMail
SmartrMail is one of the Leading Email Marketing Solutions with a very User-friendly Interface that allows users to seamlessly run Campaigns to save time. This plugin is solely dedicated to Email Marketing and caters to every need for successfully carrying out such Campaigns. The application has a wide variety of appealing email templates to choose from. It proves to be one of the most efficient Shopify Email Marketing Plugins.
SmartRMail’s Pricing Model
SmartrMail offers a free plan that allows users to send up to 5000 emails to 1000 customers with an email support system. It also offers two more plans that cost $19 and $99 per month, respectively.
For further information on SmartrMail’s Pricing plans, visit here.
Conclusion
In this article, you have learned about the 5 best Shopify Email Marketing Plugins. This article also provided brief information about Shopify and its key features, Email Marketing and its benefits and the steps followed to use Shopify Email Marketing Tool.
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