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
- What is email marketing for ecommerce?
- Comparison Table
- Best Email Marketing Software for Ecommerce Businesses
- Benefits of Email Marketing Software for Ecommerce
- 5 Important Features for Ecommerce Email Marketing Software
- How to Choose an Email Marketing Tool for Ecommerce (Step-by-Step)
- How to Create Email Marketing Campaigns for Ecommerce
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Meet HubSpot, the Top Email Marketing Choice for Ecommerce Companies
Free Email Marketing Tools
Create, personalize, and optimize your marketing emails without waiting on designers or IT.
- Boost email opens.
- Design stunning emails.
- Automate follow ups.
- And more!
What is email marketing for ecommerce?
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.
Comparison Table
|
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. |
Best Email Marketing Software for Ecommerce Businesses
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.
1. HubSpot Marketing Hub

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:
- Unified customer profiles for data-driven ecommerce personalization – HubSpot's Smart CRM automatically connects customer interactions, giving ecommerce businesses comprehensive visibility into shopping behavior, purchase history, and customer preferences without requiring 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 draft subject lines and email copy, test performance variations, and optimize campaigns.
- Native ecommerce integrations with automatic data sync – HubSpot connects with major ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, automatically syncing customer data into 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/mo/seat (billed monthly) for up to 1,000 marketing contacts.
- Marketing Hub Professional: $890/mo (billed monthly). Includes three core seats and up to 2,000 marketing contacts.
- Marketing Hub Enterprise: $3,600/mo (annual billing only). Includes five core seats and up to 10,000 marketing contacts.
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.
2. Klaviyo

Best For: Ecommerce businesses wanting to optimize email + SMS on one platform
Key Klaviyo Features:
- Multi-channel automation flows for revenue generation – Create automated email, SMS, and push notification sequences triggered by specific customer events like 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 powered by built-in CDP – The Customer Data Platform automatically centralizes all customer information, including purchases, website activity, and preferences, updating 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 determine winning content variations, and leverage Smart Send Time optimization that predicts when each subscriber is most likely to engage.
- 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/mo.
3. Zoho Campaigns

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:
- Optimal Send Time Optimization for maximizing engagement – Automatically delivers emails when each recipient is most likely to engage based on their individual behavior patterns, helping ecommerce businesses reach customers at their optimal engagement windows.
- Multi-channel marketing automation journeys – Build visual marketing automation flows that orchestrate complex nurture strategies across various 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 with external apps like Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce, or HubSpot. Use Zoho Flow to connect with 300+ additional apps beyond native integrations.
Zoho Campaigns offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card required).
- Forever Free: $0 for up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails per month.
- Standard: Starts at $4/mo billed monthly for up to 500 contacts and unlimited emails with basic segmentation.
- Professional: Starts at $6/mo billed monthly for up to 500 contacts and unlimited emails with advanced segmentation.
Free Email Marketing Tools
Create, personalize, and optimize your marketing emails without waiting on designers or IT.
- Boost email opens.
- Design stunning emails.
- Automate follow ups.
- And more!
4. Mailchimp

Best For: Small businesses or organizations primarily focused on B2C ecommerce marketing and customer retention
Key Mailchimp Features:
- Predictive segmentation and personalization for driving sales – Categorize audiences based on predictive data points like Customer Lifetime Value and Purchase Likelihood during the campaign strategy phase. Automatically surfaces personalized product recommendations in emails by connecting directly with your ecommerce store.
- Marketing automation flows (Customer Journey Builder) – Map and automate sequences triggered by contact actions, such as abandoned cart reminders. Flows can include emails, SMS messages, multivariate tests, and social posts.
- Extensive native and API integrations – Synchronize customer data across platforms with 300+ integrations, including popular native connections to Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce, Zapier, and Square.
- Free: $0 with a max of 1,000 monthly email sends or 500 per day.
- Essentials: Starts at $13/mo for up to 500 contacts. 14-day free trial available.
- Standard: Starts at $20/mo for up to 500 contacts. 14-day free trial available.
5. Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Best For: Creators (such as bloggers, consultants, and educators) who sell digital products/subscriptions
Key Kit Features:
- Monetization tools (digital products & paid newsletters) – Earn recurring income by running a paid newsletter and selling digital products and memberships directly to your audience. Create customizable sales pages and easy checkout flows directly within the platform, with products set for one-time purchase or recurring subscriptions.
- Visual automation builder (flows) – Organize your audience based on interests using tags and segments to ensure the right people get the right message at the right time. Construct email funnels for customer nurturing and sales sequences triggered by user behaviors, including split paths and automated email sequences like welcome or content series.
- Creator-focused integrations (Kit App Store) – Connect 100+ direct apps that integrate creator tools directly to Kit, extending functionality and reducing manual tasks. Examples include Shopify for ecommerce, Canva for media gallery access, and Thinkific for online courses, supporting various workflows including content creation, scheduling, and ecommerce.
- Newsletter (free): $0 for up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited email broadcasts.
- Creator: Starts at $39/mo on monthly billing for up to 1,000 subscribers.
- Creator Pro: Starts at $79/mo on monthly billing for up to 1,000 subscribers.
6. ActiveCampaign

Best For: Ecommerce businesses requiring 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 built using sophisticated triggers, split branches, and complex logic that adapt campaigns based on customer health and feature adoption.
- Cross-channel communication (SMS & WhatsApp) – Send personalized messages across email, SMS, and WhatsApp within 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 customization – Connect customer data from external systems and third-party tools into marketing workflows with approximately 1,000 integrations.
ActiveCampaign offers a free trial. Paid plans are as follows:
- Starter: Starts at $19/mo (month-to-month) up to 1,000 contacts.
- Plus: Starts at $59/mo (month-to-month) for up to 1,000 contacts.
- Pro: Starts at $89/mo for up to 1,000 contacts, with a one-year commitment that is charged monthly. Note that if you cancel early, you must still pay your monthly payments until the annual term ends.
- Enterprise: $159/mo for up to 1,000 contacts, with an annual commitment paid monthly. Note that if you cancel early, you must still pay your monthly payments until the annual term ends.
7. MailerLite

Best For: Ecommerce businesses and small businesses/creators seeking an easy-to-use platform with strong deliverability for monetization and retention
Key MailerLite Features:
- Ecommerce automation templates – Automatically turn interest into sales with triggers based on buying intent. Choose from 15 pre-built automation templates, including post-purchase, welcome emails, and abandoned cart sequences to quickly build professional email workflows.
- Direct digital product and subscription sales – Build, promote, and sell digital products, memberships, and paid newsletter subscriptions directly within MailerLite. For payment processing, connect to a Stripe account.
- Top-of-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 through prebuilt integrations.
MailerLite offers a free 14-day trial. Plans are as follows:
- Free: $0 for up to 500 subscribers and 12,000 monthly emails.
- Growing Business: Starts at $10/mo on monthly billing for up to 500 subscribers and unlimited monthly emails.
- Advanced: Starts at $20/mo on monthly billing for up to 500 subscribers and unlimited monthly emails.
Benefits of Email Marketing Software for Ecommerce
Reduce cart abandonment.
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.
Pinpoint which products drive the most conversions.
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.
Personalize marketing emails at scale.
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.
Increase customer lifetime value.
Automated drip campaigns keep your brand top of mind for customers long after their first purchase, nurturing relationships and encouraging repeat orders over time.
Free Email Marketing Tools
Create, personalize, and optimize your marketing emails without waiting on designers or IT.
- Boost email opens.
- Design stunning emails.
- Automate follow ups.
- And more!
5 Important Features for Ecommerce Email Marketing Software
- Advanced analytics and reporting. Track email opens, clicks, conversions, and revenue attribution all within the same platform to optimize campaigns and prove ROI without jumping between tools. HubSpot offers customizable reporting and analytics across all customer data (marketing, sales, and service), with multi-touch revenue attribution reports available in Marketing Hub Enterprise to measure the impact of every touchpoint on revenue.
- Integrations with ecommerce software. Native connections to major ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, and Square ensure customer data flows automatically into your email marketing tool for personalized campaigns. HubSpot offers over 1,900+ integrations (including Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce), plus Commerce Hub for B2B commerce features like CPQ, billing, and payments as part of the unified customer platform.
- Automated workflows. Email automation workflows trigger campaigns based on customer behaviors like cart abandonment, product purchases, or browsing activity, saving time while delivering timely, relevant messages. HubSpot Marketing Hub supports powerful email automation that ties emails directly to lead behaviors and lifecycle stages.
- SMS capabilities. Ecommerce businesses have seen significant success combining email marketing with SMS marketing to reach customers on multiple channels. HubSpot has an SMS add-on available for U.S. customers on Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise plans.
- Ability to grow with your business as it scales. Your email marketing tool should handle increasing contact volumes, more complex workflows, and expanding team needs as your ecommerce business grows. Marketing Hub is part of the HubSpot customer platform, an all-in-one solution with sales, marketing, and service tools built on one Smart CRM, ensuring your marketing software shares the same data with sales and customer service for 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 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.
Step 2: Identify must-have integrations.
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.
Step 3: Evaluate automation and segmentation capabilities.
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.
Step 4: Check pricing as your contact list scales.
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.
Step 5: Choose a platform that grows with your business.
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.
How to Create Email Marketing Campaigns for Ecommerce
1. Define your email marketing goals and KPIs.
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.
2. Build a calendar for seasonal campaigns.
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.
3. Set up automated year-round campaigns.
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.
4. Segment your list based on purchase behavior.
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.
5. A/B test subject lines and content.
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.
6. Analyze performance and optimize.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best email marketing tool for ecommerce?
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.
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 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.
Is HubSpot good for ecommerce?
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.
How much does email marketing software for ecommerce cost?
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.
Meet HubSpot, the Top Email Marketing Choice for Ecommerce Companies
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.
- Native ecommerce integrations with automatic data sync – HubSpot connects with major ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento, automatically syncing data directly into your CRM for personalized email campaigns based on customer behavior.
- Multi-channel marketing automation workflows – Create sophisticated automated email sequences that trigger based on customer behaviors like cart abandonment or product views. HubSpot Marketing Hub customers using automation see 34x more inbound leads.
- Advanced analytics and revenue attribution reporting – Track email opens, clicks, conversions, and revenue attribution all within the same platform to optimize campaigns and prove ROI. Multi-touch revenue attribution reports (available in Marketing Hub Enterprise) measure the impact of every touchpoint on revenue.
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.
Free Email Marketing Tools
Create, personalize, and optimize your marketing emails without waiting on designers or IT.
- Boost email opens.
- Design stunning emails.
- Automate follow ups.
- And more!
Email Marketing