When it comes to growing sales on an e-commerce site, building relationships with existing customers (CRM) is an essential strategy. If you want to start a "newsletter" or "automated email" program but feel that "third-party tools are too complex to master" or want to "keep monthly fixed costs down," you're not alone.
In this article, we introduce "Shopify Messaging" (formerly known as Shopify Email), a marketing app officially provided by Shopify.
The biggest advantage of this app is that you can operate it directly from the Shopify admin, intuitively creating emails that match your store's design. On top of that, it's free to use for up to 10,000 emails per month, making it extremely cost-effective.
This article clearly explains Shopify Messaging's main features and benefits, its concrete pricing structure, and the steps to actually set up a "cart abandonment" email campaign. If you're looking to strengthen your email marketing, we hope you find this useful.
What is Shopify Messaging (formerly Shopify Email)?
Shopify Messaging (formerly Shopify Email) is a native Shopify messaging app. With this app, Shopify store owners can create and send newsletters, analyze data, manage templates, and even send SMS — all from within the Shopify admin. You can also send up to 10,000 emails per month for free, making it one of the most affordable options among email apps.
Shopify Messaging's features and benefits
Low cost
You can use the core features for free, sending up to 10,000 emails per month at no cost.
Integrates with your Shopify data
It integrates directly with your Shopify store's product data and customer information. In the editor, you can search for products or blog posts within your Shopify store and insert them directly into an email.
Intuitive and easy to use
You can create email campaigns with intuitive controls, no specialized knowledge required. In the editor, simply select a block and adjust the settings or text to easily build a well-designed HTML email.
A wide range of templates
A wide variety of design templates are available, letting you easily create well-designed emails. There's also a rich selection of automation email templates — simply choose the automated email you want to send, such as a cart-abandonment email, from the templates and configure it.
Go straight from email to checkout
With Shopify Messaging, you can add an "express checkout button" that lets customers check out directly from within the email. Using the express checkout button, customers can go straight from the email to purchasing the product.
Analytics for measuring performance
Shopify Messaging includes a feature that lets you analyze the performance of your sent emails in detail. This lets you accurately gauge the effectiveness of your marketing strategy and continue making improvements.
As basic metrics, you can measure email open rate and click-through rate. This tells you how many recipients opened the email and what percentage clicked a link inside it. It also provides more detailed data specific to e-commerce, such as the number of people who visited your store after seeing the email, the number of orders generated through the email, and the revenue generated as a result of the email.
Shopify Messaging's drawbacks
Limited functionality
Compared to other email apps, it has fewer features and can sometimes feel lacking.
Limited customization
The parts available in templates are limited, restricting the range of email customization. As a result, some designs achievable with other email apps may not be possible with Shopify Messaging.
Not suited to complex newsletter campaigns
It may not be well suited to large-scale email campaigns or complex segmentation.
Shopify Messaging's pricing plans
Shopify Messaging's pricing is simple: you can send up to 10,000 emails per month for free, and once you exceed 10,000 emails, you're charged $1 per additional 1,000 emails.
This pricing structure lets small to mid-sized businesses start email marketing without a heavy financial burden.
How to use Shopify Messaging
Sending a campaign email
- Go to Apps > Email.
- Select "Create campaign" and choose an email campaign.
- Select a template and customize the content.
- Select your recipient list, set a schedule, and send.
Sending an automation email
- Go to Apps > Email.
- From the automation templates, select the automation email you want to run.
- Adjust the triggering event (e.g., new customer registration).
- Edit the content of the email to be sent.
- Activate the automation.
Sending a cart-abandonment email
- Go to Apps > Email.
- From the automation templates, select the "Abandoned cart" template.
- Select and customize the cart-abandonment email template.
- Adjust settings such as Wait (send timing) — for example, 24 hours after cart abandonment.
- Save the automation and activate it.
The blog article below introduces cart-abandonment strategies beyond just cart-abandonment emails. Please use it as a reference.
Creating a template
- Open the email editor.
- Click the "(…) ellipsis" in the editor.
- Click "Save as template."
- Enter a template name and click "Save."
In closing
This article explained the features, pricing, and setup of Shopify's official app, "Shopify Messaging."
Full-featured third-party email marketing tools (such as Klaviyo and Omnisend) enable detailed segmented sends and complex scenario building, but tend to come with higher costs and setup complexity.
Shopify Messaging, on the other hand, is an excellent choice for merchants just getting started with email marketing, for the following reasons:
- Low cost: Free for up to 10,000 emails per month, with an affordable pay-as-you-go rate for anything beyond that
- Easy to use: Everything happens within the admin, and adding products or your logo is smooth
- Immediate results: Proven tactics like cart-abandonment emails can be launched right away from templates
Why not start reaching out to your customers at low cost using Shopify Messaging? Once you're comfortable operating it and find you need more advanced analytics or complex automation, it's also a smart move to consider migrating to a third-party tool at that point.
If you haven't installed it yet, go ahead and install it today, and start building a fan base for your store.
Finally, the blog article below introduces recommended email apps for Shopify. Please use it as a reference.
