Competing in eCommerce can feel like a David versus Goliath situation when you’re up against the big names with even bigger budgets. It’s tough for small to medium-sized shops to make every marketing dollar count without the deep pockets of larger rivals.

This often leaves you feeling outpaced and overshadowed, struggling to make a mark and turn browsers into buyers. 

Thankfully, there are top-notch marketing tools tailored for smaller businesses that level the playing field. These tools help stretch your budget further, allowing you to connect with customers more personally and drive meaningful sales. 

In this post, we will cover the top eCommerce marketing automation software, the benefits of using one, and how you can identify the right tool for your business. 

What Is Ecommerce Marketing Automation?

eCommerce marketing automation involves using a tool to automate manual and repetitive marketing tasks. Beyond automation, eCommerce automation software helps you integrate multiple marketing channels like email, SMS, WhatsApp, and in-app notifications into one platform. 

Combining all channels and data into one platform allows you to make strong data-driven decisions to optimize your marketing strategies.

4 Benefits of Ecommerce Marketing Automation

Now, let us go over some of the key benefits of ecommerce marketing automation: 

1. Improves marketing team productivity 

According to an Adobe report, 98% of marketers suggest that marketing automation is important or extremely important to success. 

And why not? It comprehensively automates routine tasks and increases overall productivity. 

HubSpot's data shows that 72% of business leaders saw productivity gains after implementing AI and automation. This allows your marketers to tackle bigger strategic challenges rather than get bogged down in the day-to-day grind.

2. Supports omnichannel marketing

With eCommerce automation, you can support multiple channels, meet customers where they are most active, and provide a consistent customer experience at every touchpoint. 

3. Provides customer insights and boosts personalization

79% of buyers are more likely to purchase a product from a brand that offers personalized experiences. Brands are already addressing all the aspects of great personalization, including centralized customer data. 

Having all the data in one platform provides better customer insights to personalize the marketing efforts and improve strategy.

4. Boosts return on investment (ROI)

With automation, you can regularly nurture leads, leading to increased conversation. It optimizes the overall marketing spend. 

71% of businesses report a positive ROI on using automation.

7 Best Marketing Automation for Ecommerce

Here are the top picks of marketing automation tools you can leverage: 

1. Plivo CX

Plivo CX boosts your marketing efforts with advanced automation, personalized campaigns, and deep analytics. The best part is that it is also extendable to customer support teams, so you can bring entire customer data into one platform. 

Features:

• Campaign management: With Plivo CX, you can build relationships with your contacts by planning personalized SMS, MMS, Email (upcoming), and WhatsApp (upcoming) campaigns. 
• API support: Plivo CX offers API support to import contacts and manage opt-outs (upcoming). 
• Pre-defined templates: You can leverage existing templates to expedite the creation and execution of campaigns.
• AI support: With AI, you can auto-create and iterate your campaign content in minutes.
• Integrations: You can integrate Plivo CX with Shopify, Zoho, Freshdesk, Salesforce, Zendesk, HelpScout, Hubspot, Zapier, etc, and easily fit into the entire ecosystem.
• Reporting: Avail insights from customer interactions to make data-driven decisions.
• Customer service support: You can also take advantage of the Plivo CX service module to handle interactions with customers via chatbots (AI-supported), live chat, voice, SMS, and WhatsApp.
• Compliance: Plivo CX is compliant with data protection standards like GDPR and CCPA

Pricing:

Free trial available with limited features. Paid plans for marketing engagement start at $19 per month, and details of Enterprise plans are available on request.

Pros:

• Integrates both marketing and customer functions into a single platform and provides centralized data
• Supports all key channels: SMS, email, AI-powered live chat, voice, and WhatsApp 
• Affordable pricing
• High deliverability rate as Plivo has its messaging network

Cons:

• Currently works for Shopify eCommerce brands only

What do Plivo users say?

2. Klaviyo

Klaviyo is an ecommerce marketing automation platform that automates marketing efforts for eCommerce businesses. It stands out for its smart segmentation, omnichannel support, and data consolidation.

Features

• Campaign management: You can build customized marketing campaigns for email, SMS, and push notification channels. 
• API support: Klaviyo offers API support for importing data. 
• Pre-defined templates: You get built-in templates for email, SMS, forms, and automation.
• AI support: Klaviyo AI helps you find the best time to email customers and display the time to show forms.
• Integrations: You get 300 pre-built integrations for marketing, shipping, sales, loyalty, and subscription programs.
• Reporting: Visualize data for all your digital marketing campaigns in one view.
• Compliance: Klaviyo is compliant with data protection standards like GDPR and CCPA. 

Pricing:

Free trial available with limited features. Paid plans start at $45 per month, supporting 15,000 email credits and 150 SMS credits.

Pros:

• Extensive features and integrations 

Cons:

• Expensive for small and mid-size companies
• Users complain of slowness in the platform.

What do Klaviyo users say?

3. Omnisend

Omnisend is an omnichannel marketing automation platform built for eCommerce businesses. It is an all-in-one marketing automation solution supporting SMS, push notifications, WhatsApp, pop-ups, segmentation, and dynamic Facebook and Google ad integrations.

Features:

• Campaign management: With Omnisend, you can bring multiple marketing channels to one platform: SMS, push notifications, WhatsApp, pop-ups, segmentation, and dynamic Facebook and Google ads.
• API support: You get AI support to write personalized emails, predict customer behavior, and analyze campaign data.
• Pre-defined templates: You can use existing templates for emails, landing pages, notifications, and forms.
• AI support: With AI features, you get support to write personalized emails, predict customer behavior, and analyze campaign data.
• Integrations: Omnisend offers 130+ integrations with marketing, automation, Customer relationship management (CRM), and eCommerce platforms.
• Reporting: You can find detailed revenue and engagement reports of campaigns.
• Compliance: Omnisend is compliant with data protection standards like the GDPR, CCPA, and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Pricing:

Free trial available with limited features. The standard plan starts at $16 per month for 500 contacts and 6,000 emails. For more contacts, pricing is available on request. 

Pros:

• Excellent customer support
• Fully integrated with all major eCommerce platforms–no third-party connectors required
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Limited pre-defined templates
• Slight learning curve

What do Omnisend users say?

4. Braze

Instead of positioning itself as a marketing automation platform, Braze calls itself a customer engagement platform. It engages customers with personalized messages via email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app messaging.

Features:

• Campaign management: Braze supports all the usual marketing channels, such as SMS, MMS, Email, and WhatsApp campaigns. It also supports in-app messaging and push notifications.
• API support: Can use API to export data, send messages, and connect Braze with other platforms. 
• Pre-defined templates: Benefit from pre-defined templates with a media library, content ideas, color profiles, CSS templates, and more.
• AI support: Get AI support to create/edit content and generate images. 
• Integrations: 140+ integrations are available for messaging, analytics, and top eCommerce platforms.
• Reporting: Get automated reports to track campaigns, understand user behavior, and optimize future marketing strategies.
• Compliance: Compliant with data protection standards like the GDPR, CCPA, and SOC2. 

Pricing:

• Not mentioned on their website.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface
• Supports in-app messaging and push notifications beyond usual marketing channels.

Cons:

• Limited reporting features. 

What do Braze users say?

5. Avada

Avada is a marketing platform designed for eCommerce businesses, especially Shopify brands. It enables omnichannel marketing by supporting various channels, including email marketing, SMS, push notifications, and WhatsApp. 

Features:

• Campaign management: Avada supports all the marketing channels, such as SMS, MMS, Email, WhatsApp, and push notifications. It currently doesn't support in-app messaging.
• Pre-defined templates: Pre-made templates are available for email campaigns.
• Reporting: Provides an app dashboard tracking all important KPIs: open rate, click-through rate, revenue, and conversion rate.
• Compliance: Compliant with data protection standards like the GDPR, CPRA, SOC2, and PCI-DSS. 

Pricing:

• Free trial up to 14 days. Advanced plans start at $47 per month.

Pros:

• Excellent customer support

Cons:

• Limited customization options.

What do Avada users say?

6. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a popular email marketing software with automation features to drive personalized marketing messages. It has now expanded to SMS, WhatsApp, push notifications, and in-app messaging.

Features

• Campaign management: You can build customized marketing campaigns for email, SMS, WhatsApp, push notifications and in-app messaging 
• API support: Mailchimp offers API support to import data and automate campaigns. 
• Pre-defined templates: Mailchimp has 100+ free and paid email templates.
• AI support: Mailchimp AI helps you write email content and find the best time to email customers.
• Integrations: You get 250 pre-built integrations with top eCommerce platforms, design, payment platforms, etc.
• Reporting: You get campaign reports tracking open rate, click rate, click maps, revenue, etc. 
• Compliance: Mailchimp is compliant with data protection standards like GDPR and CCPA.

Pricing:

The free plan has only 1000 monthly emails, and the premium plan has 500 contacts, 1,000 SMS credits, 6,000 monthly emails, starting at $40. 

Pros:

• Extensive and easy-to-use email marketing capabilities  

Cons:

• Limited design features for landing pages and email
• Expensive for small and mid-size companies.

What do Mailchimp users say?

7. Sendlane

As a cloud-based marketing automation tool, Sendlane supports omnichannel marketing. While it started as an email marketing platform, it now supports SMS as well.

Features

• Campaign management: You can design marketing campaigns for email and SMS channels. 
• API support: Using Sendlane API, you can import customer data and track customer activity. 
• Pre-defined templates: You get built-in email templates for win back, abandoned carts, loyalty programs, and more.
• Integrations: You can integrate Sendlane with top eCommerce platforms.
• Reporting: You get dashboards showcasing campaign details with revenue, open rate, top products, and more.
• Compliance: Sendlane is compliant with data protection standards like GDPR and CCPA. 

Pricing:

For 500,000 email and SMS credits, the pricing would be $4,955 per month

Pros:

• Excellent customer support
• Good email deliverability

Cons:

• Expensive for small and mid-size companies

What do Sendlane users say?

What should you look for in eCommerce marketing automation tools?

Here are seven key factors to check in an ideal eCommerce automation platform:

1. Ease of use: Is the platform user-friendly to adapt to, or will there be a big learning curve?
2. Supported channels: Does the platform support your required channels?
3. Automation capabilities: Does it have features to automate campaigns based on specific triggers?
4. Integrations: Can it be integrated into your current tech stack?
5. Pricing: Is the pricing in your budget?
6. Customer support: How much is the turnaround time for customer support?
7. Reporting and analytics: What automated reports are available?

Five eCommerce marketing automation strategies to boost sales

Let's evaluate how brands can leverage automation to boost sales:

1. Cart abandonment reminders

You can encourage the users to complete their pending purchases. Sometimes, this could be just a nudge. However, you can also create a sense of urgency with price drops and low inventory alerts. 

2. Automate customer feedback collection

Getting customer feedback on product and delivery experience is a key to more customer sales. As per a survey, 77% of shoppers specifically seek out websites with ratings and reviews. You can design automated campaigns that ask for customer feedback after every delivery. 

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3. Dynamic and personalize content

Another benefit of having eCommerce marketing software is you have ample data to personalize campaigns by:

• Suggest products that are relevant to them
• Giving offers on birthdays and anniversaries
• Offer exclusive discounts for loyal customers

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4. Win-back emails

You can rebuild relationships with customers who haven't opened the eCommerce app/website recently. It could be:

• Offering exclusive discounts
• Informing their most-purchased product is back in stock
• Announcing new collection launches

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5. Loyalty programs

You can plan loyalty programs to build long-term relationships with your customers. Inside loyalty programs, customers can get exclusive discounts, offers, the first sneak peek into new product launches, etc. 

But how do you communicate to customers about loyalty programs? 

The answer is campaigns. Plan campaigns for the customers in the loyalty program to send updates, offers, launches, etc.

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Automate your marketing workflow with Plivo CX

Plivo CX is not just a simple and affordable way to automate your marketing efforts; it's a versatile tool that extends seamlessly to your customer success team. 

This integration brings all your customer data together on one platform, allowing you to craft personalized campaigns that truly resonate.

Whether you’re a small team looking to grow or a larger entity seeking efficiency, Plivo CX is designed to scale with your needs, making it easier to connect with your customers impactfully.

Start a free trial and run your marketing campaigns on autopilot.