Best Email Marketing Apps for Shopify: Our Practical Review

As customer expectations shift from generic newsletters to behavior‑based journeys, merchants should focus on triggering messages from real shopping signals.

The right fit depends on your store’s stage and goals:

• XFlow Back in Stock Alert for unlimited back‑in‑stock recovery.
• Klaviyo: Email Marketing & SMS for advanced segmentation and predictive analytics.
• Sendvio: Email Marketing & SMS for AI‑assisted campaign creation with Sidekick.
• Uppush Abandoned Cart Email Marketing for abandoned‑cart and win‑back flows.
• Kaching Upsell & Email Popup for on‑site upsell popups that capture leads.

This guide compares leading apps by how well they support those event‑driven workflows, not just list size, and aligns with a broader e‑Commerce email marketing strategy.

6 Best Email Marketing Apps for Shopify: Classified by Different Store Needs

Does Shopify have email marketing? Yes, the platform provides basic campaign tools and native abandoned‑checkout emails, but most growing stores layer on dedicated apps to unlock behavioral flows, advanced segmentation, and multi‑channel messaging.

The best email marketing apps for Shopify depend on how your store acquires customers, what triggers you need to automate, and how much control you want over customer data and campaign performance.

A small store may need a simple newsletter tool, while a growing brand with repeat customers may prioritize behavioral automation, detailed customer profiles, or multi-channel messaging.

If you’re still weighing your budget and roadmap, our analysis of whether email marketing is worth it breaks down typical ROI, benchmark ranges, and when email becomes profitable rather than a cost.

So, what are these best Shopify email marketing apps?

XFlow Back in Stock Alert for recovering lost demand

• Pricing: Free plan available, paid plans from $9/month
• Reviews & ratings: 5.0/5 (66 reviews)
• Best for: Recover sales from stockouts and reconnect with shoppers who are waiting for specific product variants.

Image source: XFlow Back in Stock Alert 

A stockout can cost more than one missed order. When a customer cannot find their preferred product, they may look for a substitute from another brand.

XFlow addresses this problem through back-in-stock recovery, helping merchants reconnect with shoppers when products become available again with unlimited automated alerts.

Therefore, instead of charging per email, XFlow's paid pricing plans use monthly recovered-revenue thresholds, with additional usage fees applying when merchants exceed the relevant threshold. Here’s how it works:

Merchants can send recovery emails without worrying about a per-email charge as their subscriber volume grows. The amount they pay is tied to the revenue generated through recovery campaigns rather than the number of notifications sent.

Image source: XFlow’s Pricing Plans

For example, Grainhaus, one of the XFlow’s customers, has 1000 customers subscribed to back-in-stock alerts for their popular small bar board.  Under XFlow's $19/month plan, the merchant can send recovery emails without additional per-email charges, with a $3,000 monthly recovered-revenue limit.

Image source: Grainhaus

If the store's back-in-stock campaigns generate $500 or $2,999 in recovered revenue during the month, the merchant pays only the $19 monthly subscription fee. Additional charges apply only when recovered revenue exceeds $3,000.

For example, if the campaigns generate $3,001, the merchant will be charged according to XFlow's overage pricing terms.

Pro tip: In case you want to create your own pricing plans, access XFlow’s Fee Calculator to estimate your monthly payment on back-in-stock flows. For who achieves above $15,000 revenues per month, feel free to request custom pricing with experts.

Image source: XFlow’s Fee Calculator

With the Campaign → workflow → email structure, XFlow organizes recovery campaigns into workflows and email messages for a more structured automation process.

The best part is that their back-in-stock flows build use cases around VIP shoppers or customers with high purchase value who may warrant more tailored recovery communication.

Previously, XFlow separated campaigns and workflows into two interfaces. Now, they are combined into one screen, making it easier for merchants to manage their back-in-stock automation without switching between different sections.

Image source: XFlow’s Previous Interface

For beginners, XFlow provides a ready-to-use back-in-stock flow template, so they can start with an existing automation structure instead of building one from scratch. 

The back-in-stock flow includes two editable versions:

• Draft: The version where merchants can make changes to their workflow, such as adjusting email content or automation settings.

• Active: The version currently running and handling back-in-stock notifications.

When merchants finish editing the draft, they can click. Apply Changes to publish those updates and synchronize the active flow with the latest draft. If they do not apply the changes, the draft and active versions remain separate, allowing merchants to experiment. 

Pro tip: Make sure to Save every change in both Active and Draft version to keep everything on track, then Apply Changes to officially run these email back-in-stock workflows.

For a step‑by‑step walkthrough of setting up high‑converting flows, see our guide to Shopify email automation.

Klaviyo: Email Marketing & SMS for advanced customer data

Pricing: Free plan available, paid plans from $15/month

Reviews & ratings: 4.7/5 (3,314 reviews)

Best for: Established Shopify brands that need detailed customer segmentation.

Image source: Klaviyo Email Marketing & SMS

Klaviyo is a strong fit for merchants whose email strategy depends on understanding customer behavior rather than simply sending campaigns to a subscriber list.

Its Shopify integration supports customer and purchase data, allowing merchants to build more targeted journeys around shopping activity and customer value.

A basic Shopify email marketing tool might let you create a flow such as: If a customer places an order → wait 14 days → send a follow-up email.

Klaviyo can support more sophisticated decision-making by combining Shopify events, customer profiles, purchase history, engagement data, and predictive analytics. 

This allows merchants to design campaigns around a customer's broader relationship with the brand rather than relying on a single trigger.

Here are three areas where that data depth becomes useful.

1. Build segments around customer value, not just actions

Klaviyo can synchronize Shopify customer information, order events, product data, and marketing consent. Merchants can use these signals to create segments based on purchase frequency, spending behavior, product preferences, and engagement.

A first-time customer might receive product education, while a repeat customer could receive early access to a new product. A high-value customer might receive a more personalized product recommendation.

The insight: The automation trigger starts the journey, but customer data determines how the journey should differ from one shopper to another.

2. Use Predictive Analytics to anticipate the next purchase

Klaviyo's predictive analytics can support metrics such as predicted customer lifetime value, expected next order date, and churn-related insights, provided the account has enough relevant data.

Imagine a coffee subscription store with customers who typically reorder every 30 to 45 days.

Instead of sending the same replenishment email to every customer 30 days after their last order, a merchant could use predicted purchase timing to identify customers who may be approaching their next order.

3. Use Composer to audit existing flows, not just generate new ones

One standout point is that all of these features can be configured by Klaviyo's Composer, a Klaviyo sidekick. It can audit existing flows, segments, and forms to identify opportunities, then help create on-brand campaigns using the store's customer data.

Image source: Klaviyo Composer

Klaviyo integrates with Shopify to synchronize customer and purchase information and supports connections with a broad ecosystem of third-party tools. Its free plan supports up to 250 profiles and includes up to 500 email sends per month.

And the good news is the free tier also includes limited Composer usage. Paid pricing increases with the size of the customer database and messaging requirements.

Sendvio: Email Marketing & SMS for Sidekick automation 

• Pricing: Free plan available, paid plans from $16/month
• Reviews & ratings: 4.8/5 (178 reviews)
• Best for: AI-assisted email campaign creation and automation.

Image source: Sendvio: Email Marketing & SMS

Sendvio combines email marketing, SMS, popups, and other retention features in a single Shopify-focused platform. Its integration with Shopify Sidekick makes it particularly relevant to create marketing campaigns and workflows in natural-language prompts.

For merchants, the practical benefit is reducing the gap between identifying a marketing task and configuring the automation that handles it.

Imagine a Shopify store that sends a review request after a customer receives their order. The merchant wants to improve the timing and content of the emails without manually rebuilding the entire automation.

Image source: Sendvio Flow Automation Templates

A possible workflow looks like this:

1. Identify the improvement opportunity

The merchant notices that their existing review-request flow needs updating. For example, they want to review the timing of the emails or make the request more relevant to customers who have purchased different types of products.

2. Ask Sidekick for help

The merchant can use a prompt such as:

“Review my existing Sendvio review-request automation and suggest improvements to its timing and email content for customers who have completed their purchases.”

This illustrates the type of natural-language request Sidekick can help facilitate. The exact ability to audit an existing Sendvio flow depends on the available integration and permissions.

3. Review the flow and campaign setup

The merchant can examine the existing automation's trigger, timing, audience, and email content in Sendvio. The goal is to identify whether the workflow aligns with the desired post-purchase experience.

4. Adjust and test the workflow

The merchant can update the review-request email, refine the timing, and check that the message fits the customer's post-purchase stage before activating the changes.

Image source: Sendvio Review Display

So, why does this integration matter?

Sendvio brings email campaigns, automations, and product review tools into one Shopify-focused ecosystem.

Sidekick initiates marketing tasks, while the merchant remains responsible for reviewing the proposed changes and ensuring workflow fits the store's customer journey.

Uppush Abandoned Cart Email Marketing for winback campaigns

Pricing: Free plan available, paid plans from $12.99/month

Reviews & ratings: 4.9/5 (166 reviews)

Best for: Recover abandoned purchases and re-engage customers who have shown buying intent.

Image source: Uppush Abandoned Cart Email Marketing

Cart abandonment is a substantial ecommerce challenge. The Baymard Institute's analysis of 50 studies puts the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate at 70.22%.

Rather than relying on broad promotional campaigns, Uppush helps merchants reconnect with shoppers who have already demonstrated an interest in buying. The opportunity for Shopify merchants is to reconnect with that shopper before their purchase intent fades.

Image source: Uppush Email Workflows

This app typically connects to Shopify's cart and customer data to trigger recovery messages: An abandoned-cart workflow targets one of the most valuable touchpoints in the customer journey.

However, email is useful for reaching shoppers after they leave your store, but it is not the only recovery channel. From our testing, Uppush also offers web push notifications that can complement abandoned-cart emails by providing another way to reconnect with shoppers.

For example, imagine a customer adds a pair of sneakers to their cart but leaves before checkout. The merchant could use an abandoned-cart email to remind the shopper about the product and provide a link back to checkout.

A web push notification can serve as an additional touchpoint in the recovery strategy, helping the store reach opted-in shoppers through their browser. The two channels can support different stages of the same recovery journey:

Merchants should coordinate email and web push timing, avoid sending duplicate reminders too close together. Instead of sending an email and web push notification at the same time, merchants can stagger the messages so that each touchpoint serves a distinct purpose.

So, why stagger the messages? A web push notification can act as an early, low-friction reminder, while email gives the shopper more room to evaluate the purchase.

Spacing the messages also reduces the risk of overwhelming customers with multiple reminders within a short period.

Kaching Upsell & Email Popup for upselling

• Pricing: Free plan available, paid plans from $4.99/month
• Reviews & ratings: 4.9/5 (128 reviews)
• Best for: Increase average order value and capture leads.

Image source: Kaching Upsell & Email Popup

Kaching's positioning centers on upselling and conversion opportunities within the shopping experience.

Instead of treating an email popup as a simple “Join our newsletter” form, merchants can use the popup to present a relevant offer at flexible moments when a shopper considers a product.

Image source: Kaching Email Popup Templates

Let’s say Kloudy, a Shopify jewelry store, could show an email popup offering Mystery Discount for the first-time buyers. A more conversion-focused version could combine the signup with an upsell message:

Image source: Kloudy

This creates two conversion opportunities in one interaction: The email signup captures a lead for future marketing, while the popup can introduce a complementary product before the shopper leaves the store.

The key is to match the popup offer to the shopper's current intent. A visitor browsing a single product may respond better to a product-specific incentive or complementary recommendation than a generic newsletter signup. For example:

This is where email capture and upselling serve different but connected purposes. The popup's immediate job is to turn an anonymous visitor into an identifiable lead.

The upsell opportunity comes from using the shopper's current context to increase the chance that the same session produces a larger basket.

However, an email-popup app automatically replaces a full email marketing platform. Its value is primarily on-site lead capture and conversion, while the captured addresses can be added to the store's existing email marketing system for segmentation and longer-term campaigns.

Pro tip: For Shopify merchants focused on back-in-stock recovery, XFlow's signup form gives shoppers a clear way to request an email when an unavailable product returns.

Image source: XFlow Sign-Up Form 

This also creates an opportunity beyond simply recovering the original product sale. Once the shopper returns through the back-in-stock notification, merchants can use the product context to introduce complementary products, bundles, or higher-value alternatives.

Magic Wishlist & Emails for free email marketing

• Pricing: Free
• Reviews & ratings: 5.0/5 (31 reviews)
• Best for: Capture wishlist intent and reconnect with hesitant shoppers.

Image source: Magic Wishlist & Emails

Not every shopper is ready to buy on their first visit. Some save products for later, wait for a price drop, or postpone a purchase until their preferred variant becomes available.

A wishlist tool can help merchants maintain a connection with these shoppers instead of relying on them to remember the product and return independently and the styling of the wishlist form matters here.

This best free email marketing app for Shopify offers the form that can be designed to fit the store's existing UI, from its typography and spacing for the final wishlist display.

Image source: Magic Wishlist Styling

This makes the email capture feel like a natural extension of the shopper's action: Save the product first, then provide their email if they want to keep that intent connected to their account or wishlist.

The same principle applies to action-triggered forms. Merchants can connect it just like clicking the wishlist button. That gives the shopper a clear reason to provide their email and avoids asking for information before they've shown any interest.

For merchants already thinking about back-in-stock email marketing, this approach also provides a useful comparison. XFlow focuses on capturing demand when a shopper wants an unavailable product and letting merchants build the back-in-stock flow around that intent.

So, what should merchants test during an email app trial?
Before committing to one of the best email marketing platforms for Shopify above, test a real customer journey instead of simply exploring its template library.

Our tip is to start with one high‑value workflow, such as abandoned‑cart recovery or back‑in‑stock notifications:

• Run it with a small but statistically useful audience, ideally at least 1,000 recipients per variation.
• If you’re A/B testing, or a few hundred sends if you’re just validating delivery and basic engagement, then review the data before scaling.

This gives you more useful evidence than choosing an app based only on its free plan, feature count, or promotional claims.

Which Email Marketing Automation Workflows Should Every Shopify Store Build First?

Most Shopify stores can already collect an email address and fire off a promo blast. But the best email marketing apps for Shopify depend on more than how many campaigns it can send.

For merchants evaluating marketing automation for Shopify, the priority should be to build workflows around these customer moments before investing in more complex campaigns, such as:

The key is to prioritize workflows according to your store's customer journey. Let’s say stockouts create a loyalty problem. 

When a customer finally decides to purchase a product but discovers that their preferred size, color, or variant is unavailable, they have two options: Wait for the restock or look for a substitute from another brand.

This is where a back-in-stock workflow becomes more than a sales recovery tool. It can help maintain the relationship between a shopper and your brand during a period when you cannot fulfill their demand.

For example, imagine a Shopify fashion store selling a popular linen shirt. A shopper wants the beige version in size M, but the variant is sold out. Instead of leaving the website and searching for another brand, the shopper signs up for a back-in-stock notification.

Image source: Steampow with XFlow’s Back-in-Stock

The merchant can create an email-based back-in-stock workflow that responds when the requested product becomes available again:

1. Capture specific product interest

The shopper requests a notification for the exact linen shirt variant they want. This gives the merchant a clear signal of purchase intent rather than just a general email subscription.

2. Keep the shopper connected

In this case, XFlow can collect the shopper's notification request and use an automated email workflow to reach them when the item is restocked. The shopper does not need to revisit the website repeatedly to check availability.

3. Send a timely restock email

When the requested variant becomes available, XFlow sends a back-in-stock email. The message can direct the customer to the relevant product so they can continue their purchase journey.

Pro tip: Select a targeted-based email template is a good choice when it guarantees the user context and relevance. XFlow back-in-stock email templates align every single email element with the specific customer’s intent.

4. Measure recovered demand

The merchant can review workflow metrics, including engagement and recovered revenue, to understand whether the restock campaign is helping turn previously lost demand into sales.

The key advantage is that the merchant can reconnect with a customer when the product becomes available again.

So, when should a store use event-triggered emails instead of scheduled campaigns?

The difference comes down to context and timing.

A scheduled campaign reaches a group of subscribers at a planned time, regardless of their immediate actions. For example, a merchant might send a “New arrivals this week” email to its entire fashion customer list on Monday. The campaign can generate interest, but it does not necessarily reflect what each recipient wants right now.

On the other hand, an event-triggered email responds to a specific customer action or condition. Consider a shopper who visits a product page, selects a particular shoe size, and signs up for a notification when that size is restocked.

Once the requested variant becomes available, the store sends a back-in-stock alert.

Practical tip: Use scheduled campaigns to create demand and maintain customer engagement. Use event-triggered workflows when the customer has already taken conversable actions, such as subscribing, abandoning a cart, completing a purchase, or requesting a product restock.

Then, how should Shopify merchants measure whether an automated email is working?

While open rates can provide a useful directional signal, they do not establish whether a campaign generated profitable sales. According to Shopify, here are the email marketing benchmarks for automatic flows:

A high open rate is not enough, because it may generate very few clicks or purchases.

The better approach is to connect each workflow to its intended business objective. Measure whether welcome emails contribute to first purchases, abandoned-cart emails recover lost orders, and replenishment flows generate profitable repeat sales.

For stores that frequently sell out of popular products, a dedicated Shopify back-in-stock app can help recover demand from shoppers who would otherwise have to check availability manually.

FAQs About Email Marketing Apps for Shopify

1. What should Shopify brands evaluate before migrating email platforms?

Shopify brands should evaluate automation capabilities: Shopify integration, pricing, data migration, deliverability, and reporting before switching email platforms. Before migrating, our tip is to review these areas:

• Automation workflows: Can the new platform replicate or improve your welcome, abandoned-cart, post-purchase, and back-in-stock workflows?
• Customer data: Can you transfer subscriber lists, customer segments, consent records, and relevant purchase data without losing important information?
• Shopify integration: Does the platform reliably sync products, orders, customer data, and product variants?
• Pricing structure: Will costs increase as your subscriber list, email volume, or automation usage grows?
• Reporting: Can you track attributed revenue, conversion rates, and revenue per recipient?
• Deliverability: Does the platform provide the authentication and sending infrastructure needed to maintain reliable inbox placement?

Expert tip: First, identify underperforming existing workflows and determine the platform that can address those specific problems. A migration that disrupts working automations without improving customer outcomes can create more risk than value.

2. Why can installing an email marketing app fail to generate more sales?

Because email marketing apps only provide the platform for communicating with customers. Revenue depends on right targeted shoppers, relevant messages, and friction removals from the purchase journey.

For example, a merchant might install an app with advanced automation features like market selections but send the same promotional email to every subscriber, and here are common reasons for it:

• Poor audience segmentation: Customers receive messages that do not match their interests or purchase history.
  Weak offers or messaging: Emails do not provide a compelling reason to buy.
• Incorrect timing: Messages arrive before the customer is ready to purchase or after their interest has faded.
• Stock and product friction: Customers click through to unavailable products or encounter a difficult checkout experience.
• Insufficient testing: Merchants do not test subject lines, offers, timing, or landing pages.
• Misleading success metrics: High open rates create the impression of success, even when sales remain low.

The campaign may reach a large audience, yet fail to address different customer needs, such as first-time shoppers, abandoned-cart customers, or people waiting for a sold-out product.

3. Is email marketing still effective for Shopify stores as AI shopping grows?

Yes. Email marketing can still support customer acquisition, retention, and repeat purchases as AI-powered shopping experiences become more common. However, its role is evolving.

AI shopping tools can help customers discover products, compare options, and receive personalized recommendations. This means Shopify merchants need to consider both how shoppers discover their products through AI-assisted experiences and how they maintain relationships after subscription or purchase.

Email remains useful for customer-initiated and permission-based communication, including:

• Welcome emails: Introduce the brand and help new subscribers understand its products and value.
• Order and post-purchase communication: Keep customers informed and support a positive buying experience.
• Back-in-stock notifications: Reconnect with shoppers who requested a specific product variant.
• Replenishment reminders: Encourage repeat purchases when customers may need to reorder.
• Personalized campaigns: Share relevant offers and products based on customer behavior and preferences.

The bigger shift is that merchants should not treat email as an isolated marketing channel. Product data, customer preferences, purchase history, and consent should support a consistent experience across discovery, shopping, and retention.

To learn how AI shopping works with Shopify, explore more on this guide to the Shopify ChatGPT integration.

4. Can I use two email marketing apps on the same Shopify store?

Yes, you can generally install and use two email marketing apps on the same Shopify store. However, running both platforms simultaneously can create overlapping automations, duplicate messages, data synchronization issues, and unnecessary costs.

For example, a merchant might use one platform for newsletters and another for back-in-stock notifications. This setup can work if each app has a clearly defined role and the workflows do not compete with each other.

Our tip is to assign each app a specific responsibility. For instance, one platform could manage broader lifecycle campaigns while a specialized tool such as XFlow handles advanced product back-in-stock notifications.

If one platform can handle all your required workflows reliably, consolidating your email stack may simplify reporting and reduce operational complexity.