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As an ecommerce business, you’re managing a catalog of products with constantly changing inventory, coordinating time-sensitive seasonal campaigns around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and competing for attention in crowded inboxes teeming with promotional emails. How do you win back shoppers who add items but never complete their purchase?
Email marketing software solves these challenges by automating cart recovery sequences, segmenting customers based on purchase patterns, and personalizing product recommendations at scale. The payoff is huge: Ecommerce has the highest email marketing ROI of any industry: $45 for every $1 spent, according to data from Litmus. Ecommerce company Spocket doubled its conversion rate with the help of HubSpot Marketing Hub email sequences and workflow automation. But getting ROI like that requires the right email marketing tools.
This guide will compare the top seven email marketing tools for ecommerce businesses, including detailed pricing, feature breakdowns, and step-by-step guidance on choosing the right platform. We used AI for research and drafting, led by a HubSpot staff writer who reviewed and revised this article before publication.
Table of Contents
Email marketing for ecommerce involves sending targeted email campaigns to customers and prospects to drive product sales, recover abandoned carts, and increase repeat purchases. Online stores use email marketing software to automate personalized messages triggered by shopping behaviors like browsing products, adding items to cart, or completing purchases, turning one-time buyers into loyal, repeat customers. HubSpot Marketing Hub integrates with ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce to automate these campaigns directly from its CRM.
| Email Marketing Tool | Best For | Key Features | Pricing |
| HubSpot Marketing Hub | B2B and B2C ecommerce businesses wanting an email marketing tool with built-in CRM, plus 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/mo/seat (billed monthly). |
| Klaviyo | Ecommerce businesses wanting to optimize email + SMS on one platform | Multi-channel automation flows for revenue generation, predictive analytics and segmentation powered by built-in CDP, AI-powered optimization and content generation | Free plan. Paid email plans start at $20/mo. |
| Zoho Campaigns | Businesses focused on B2C marketing or organizations already leveraging the broader Zoho ecosystem (e.g., Zoho CRM) seeking an integrated marketing suite | Optimal Send Time Optimization for maximizing engagement, multi-channel marketing automation journeys, integrations with other Zoho apps and external apps | Free plan. Paid plans start at $4/mo (billed monthly). 14-day free trial available. |
| Mailchimp | Small businesses or organizations primarily focused on B2C ecommerce marketing and customer retention | Predictive segmentation and personalization for driving sales, marketing automation flows (Customer Journey Builder), extensive native and API integrations | Free plan. Paid plans start at $13/mo. 14-day free trial available. |
| Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | Creators (such as bloggers, consultants, and educators) who sell digital products/subscriptions | Monetization tools (digital products & paid newsletters), visual automation builder (flows), creator-focused integrations (Kit App Store) | Free plan. Paid plans start at $39/mo (billed monthly). 14-day free trial available. |
| ActiveCampaign | Ecommerce businesses requiring sophisticated cross-channel automation (email, SMS, WhatsApp) for retention marketing | Sophisticated marketing automation engine, cross-channel communication (SMS & WhatsApp), extensive integrations and customization | Free trial available. Paid plans start at $19/mo. |
| MailerLite | Ecommerce businesses and small businesses/creators seeking an easy-to-use platform with strong deliverability for monetization and retention | Ecommerce automation templates, direct digital product and subscription sales, top-of-class deliverability and core integrations | Free plan. Paid plans start at $10/mo (billed monthly). 14-day free trial available. |
The following email marketing tools for ecommerce offer native ecommerce integrations, automated workflows for cart abandonment, and impressive segmentation capabilities. Each platform varies in pricing, complexity, and specific strengths, so review the features and use cases to determine which best fits your business needs.
Best For: B2B and B2C ecommerce businesses wanting an email marketing tool with built-in CRM, plus sales, service, and operations tools
Key HubSpot Features:
HubSpot Pricing:
Notes: You can store non-marketing contacts for free in the CRM, up to 15 million overall contacts. You can pay for extra marketing contacts, if needed. There is a one-time Professional Onboarding fee of $3,000. There is a one-time Enterprise Onboarding fee of $7,000.
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Best For: Ecommerce businesses wanting to optimize email + SMS on one platform
Key Klaviyo Features:
Klaviyo Pricing:
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Best For: Businesses focused on B2C marketing or organizations already leveraging the broader Zoho ecosystem (e.g., Zoho CRM) seeking an integrated marketing suite
Key Zoho Campaigns Features:
Zoho Campaigns Pricing:
Zoho Campaigns offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card required).
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Best For: Small businesses or organizations primarily focused on B2C ecommerce marketing and customer retention
Key Mailchimp Features:
Mailchimp Pricing:
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Best For: Creators (such as bloggers, consultants, and educators) who sell digital products/subscriptions
Key Kit Features:
Kit Pricing:
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Best For: Ecommerce businesses requiring sophisticated cross-channel automation (email, SMS, WhatsApp) for retention marketing
Key ActiveCampaign Features:
ActiveCampaign Pricing:
ActiveCampaign offers a free trial. Paid plans are as follows:
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Best For: Ecommerce businesses and small businesses/creators seeking an easy-to-use platform with strong deliverability for monetization and retention
Key MailerLite Features:
MailerLite Pricing:
MailerLite offers a free 14-day trial. Plans are as follows:
Recover lost revenue with automated emails that encourage customers to come back and complete their purchases. B2C businesses can connect their store to HubSpot to automate abandoned cart emails.
With an analytics dashboard, you can see opens, clicks, conversions, and which products drove the most conversions. HubSpot Marketing Hub has advanced marketing reporting, allowing you to connect email campaigns to revenue outcomes.
Email marketing software segments customers based on purchase history, browsing behavior, and engagement patterns, automatically sending relevant product recommendations and personalized content to each segment. Because Marketing Hub is built on HubSpot Smart CRM, you can use customer data to power your email campaigns. HubSpot’s personalization tokens and dynamic content ensure that every email feels tailor-made to the audience segment.
Automated drip campaigns keep your brand top of mind for customers long after their first purchase, nurturing relationships and encouraging repeat orders over time.
List every customer touchpoint 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 helps you identify which automation capabilities you‘ll actually use versus nice-to-have features you’ll pay for but never implement.
Determine which ecommerce platform, payment processor, and other tools your email marketing software must connect with to sync customer data automatically. Native integrations with your existing tech stack (like Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce) eliminate manual data entry and ensure your email campaigns use real-time purchase and browsing behavior.
Test how easily you can create segments based on purchase history, browsing behavior, and customer value, then build automated workflows triggered by specific ecommerce events. The right platform should let you set up abandoned cart sequences, product recommendation emails, and customer lifecycle campaigns without requiring developer resources.
Calculate costs at your current contact count, then project what you’ll pay when 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 understanding long-term costs prevents budget surprises.
Select an email marketing tool that can handle increasing complexity as you expand from basic 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 their community of half a million supporters with advanced list segmentation that improved conversions.
Decide what you want each campaign to achieve, whether it’s driving product sales, recovering abandoned carts, increasing repeat purchases, or growing your email list. Set specific metrics to track success, such as conversion rate, revenue per email, click-through rate, or average order value.
Plan email campaigns around major shopping seasons like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, holiday gift guides, and back-to-school periods when customers are actively looking to purchase. Schedule promotional emails, product launches, and exclusive offers to align with these high-intent buying windows.
Nurturing your list year-round helps keep cash flow strong even when Black Friday has come and gone. Create evergreen automated workflows that run continuously, such as welcome series for new subscribers and win-back campaigns for lapsed customers.
Group customers by purchase history, browsing activity, customer lifetime value, and engagement levels to send more relevant product recommendations and offers to each segment. Ensure you have proper opt-in consent.
Test different subject lines, email designs, product placements, call-to-action buttons, and send times to identify what resonates best with your audience. Start with simple tests comparing two variations, then expand to multivariate testing as you gather more data.
Review your email analytics dashboard to see which campaigns drove the most revenue, which products performed best, and where customers dropped off. Use these insights to refine your segmentation, adjust your messaging, improve your product recommendations, and repeat successful patterns in future campaigns.
The best email marketing tool for ecommerce depends on your business size, budget, and specific needs. HubSpot Marketing Hub is the top choice for businesses wanting unified marketing, sales, and service tools with native ecommerce integrations, advanced automation, and revenue attribution reporting. Klaviyo excels for businesses prioritizing email + SMS optimization with predictive analytics, while Zoho Campaigns offers the most affordable option for businesses already using the Zoho ecosystem. For budget-conscious startups, MailerLite provides strong deliverability and ecommerce automation templates starting at just $10/month.
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 purchase behavior and customer lifetime value, predictive analytics for targeting high-value customers, and revenue attribution reporting to track which campaigns drive sales. Multi-channel capabilities (email + SMS), A/B testing, and personalization tools like dynamic product recommendations are also important for maximizing conversions.
Yes, HubSpot Marketing Hub works well for ecommerce businesses, particularly those wanting unified marketing, sales, and service tools. HubSpot offers native integrations with major ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and Square, that automatically sync customer purchase data into the Smart CRM. The platform supports ecommerce-specific automations like abandoned cart emails, post-purchase follow-ups, and customer win-back campaigns.
Email marketing software for ecommerce varies widely in cost depending on features and contact list size. HubSpot has a free plan for up to 2,000 monthly email sends, Zoho Campaigns‘ Forever Free plan allows for up to 2,000 contacts, and MailerLite’s free plan accommodates up to 500 subscribers. Kit has an impressive free plan, allowing you up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited email broadcasts. Paid plans for ecommerce email marketing software in this article typically start between $4-$20/month for small contact lists (500-1,000 contacts), with costs scaling based on your contact count. Mid-tier plans range from $49-$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.
Marketing Hub is built on the all-in-one HubSpot customer platform, so you can connect your email marketing, sales, and customer service, plus power your marketing efforts with CRM data.
Home appliance manufacturer InSinkErator increased ecommerce revenue by 27% with the help of HubSpot’s email marketing and automation to send targeted campaigns.
Custom sock maker Sock Club shortened its sales cycle from 22 to 11 days using HubSpot’s personalized and segmented email campaigns with automated follow-up workflows.
Join other ecommerce brands that are growing with HubSpot’s email marketing. Get started with HubSpot today.
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