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Launched in Lithuania in 2014 under the name of Soundest, Omnisend has come a long way in the last seven years. They now employ over 80 people and cater to over 50,000 ecommerce brands. With 4.7/5 on the Shopify app store, we knew Omnisend was popular among Shopify users - we even ranked it as the top email marketing service for Shopify - but how does it do overall? And what do you need to know before signing up?
Omnisend Review Summary
Omnisend is an email marketing service directed towards ecommerce users. It offers a free plan that comes with all features and its paid plans start at $16/month for 500 contacts. Features include landing pages, email automation with a focus on ecommerce and advanced segmentation.
With so many email marketing services to choose from, it seems like a good idea to specialize in something and do it really well. So perhaps the fact that Omnisend specifically focuses on email marketing for online stores is a big point in their favor? Let’s dive in and take a closer look at Omnisend to see if that’s the case:
Omnisend screenshots
Omnisend Pricing
See our complete pricing guide here
Pros and Cons
Ecommerce centered:
If you have an online store, Omnisend is a great choice. It integrates seamlessly with all popular ecommerce platforms and the email editor includes unique features like their product picker, scratch cards and gift boxes. Product and Category Recommendation reports help you target the customers who are most likely to buy a specific product.
Free plan includes all features:
Though Omnisend’s free plan has a very limited sending allowance, it does come with advanced features, and you can store unlimited contacts.
Automation:
You’ll save tons of time and no doubt see your revenue increase with its range of automation workflows. There are plenty of triggers, filters and conditions to choose from and the editor is really easy to use.
Sales tracking:
This is available for email, SMS and push notifications.
No advanced tracking:
Unfortunately, it doesn’t track the email clients, social media or geo-location of your subscribers.
Only available in English :
Those looking for a multi-language platform will need to look elsewhere.
Limited integrations:
All the main ecommerce platforms are there, but it’s missing key integrations with platforms such as GoogleAnalytics and CRM software.
Deliverability:
Omnisend didn’t do too well in our deliverability tests.
Is Omnisend the right newsletter service for you?
Recommended if:
You have an online store:
There’s no doubt that Omnisend is a great email newsletter platform for online store owners, especially those on Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, OpenCart, Drupal Commerce or Volusion, as Omnisend has a direct integration.
You’re serious about ecommerce automation:
Aside from abandoned cart automations, you’ll have templates for cross-selling, customer reactivation, transactional emails and order follow-up. These will save you plenty of time and no doubt lead to more conversions.
You want modern designs:
Omnisend comes with 18 attractive email templates and 5 landing page designs.
You want to check your performance against that of industry peers:
Using the last 30 days of brand data, the health check feature uses contextual benchmarks and evaluates your brand’s overall performance compared to its industry peers in each of the following areas: Customer retention, Campaigns, Workflows, Cart abandonment and Sign-up forms.
Not recommended if:
You need advanced tracking:
Though the reports offer a good amount of data (including revenue generated), you won’t be able to see which email clients are used by your subscribers nor where they are based.
You’re not an online store owner:
If you don’t have an online store, you won’t be able to use this service as it requires you to connect one.
MailerLite is an easy-to-use, affordable newsletter service you can use in this case.
You need a higher sending allowance but don't want to pay:
500 emails a month to 250 subscribers isn’t very much. You’ll find other free email marketing services offer much more generous sending allowances.
Rating details
| criterion | rating | comments |
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Ease of Use |
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Omnisend is pretty easy to use. It has a clean, modern interface design and everything works smoothly. The only slightly annoying thing is that you have to connect your store in order to be able to do anything. |
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Newsletter Creation |
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Editor |
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The editor makes featuring your products and their prices easy by including this as a content block you can drag into your design. The editor is fast, though if you make a mistake, like deleting a section, there is no undo button and not even the magic keyboard combination CMD Z will rescue you. |
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Personalization |
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Omnisend has added personalization options in the form of a drop down to every input field. This really simplifies the process. |
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Email types |
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All email types are available: Classic newsletters, autoresponders, A/B testing, recurring newsletters (e.g. birthday emails), SMS and advanced automation. |
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Choice and Flexibility of Template Designs |
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There are 18 mobile responsive templates available across all plans. These are very modern and work especially well for ecommerce. There are various themes you can choose from, which change the color palette of your email with one click. You can also create your own HTML design by importing the code or pasting it in. Note that this feature is under ‘store settings’, which I didn’t find very intuitive. |
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Email Automation |
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A number of automation workflow templates are available. Omnisend’s automations are especially good for those with online stores on platforms such as Shopify. There are plenty of options related to triggers, filters and conditions, and automations can include SMS and push notifications. A/B testing is also possible. |
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List Management |
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You can create lists by tagging contacts. To remove them from the list simply remove the tag. If you unsubscribe a contact, this is from all lists. There are tons of filters you can use for segmentation, e.g., contact field criteria, behavior (clicks, reads, purchases, etc). You can also set up an automation to tag a contact when they perform a specific action like view your pricing page, purchase a product, etc. |
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Registration Forms/ Opt-in & Opt-out- Process |
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You have some pretty cool templates to choose from, though there aren’t loads. In terms of editing the form, it would be slightly easier if you could so by dragging and dropping the items directly on the design. The form is added automatically to your store once it’s been enabled. |
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Deliverability |
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Omnisend’s deliverability leaves room for improvement. If you are looking for a solid tool and a better performer, ActiveCampaign would be a better choice. |
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Reports and Analysis |
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These are cleanly laid out and easy to read. They include click map, open/click rate, revenue, unsubscribed and issues. It’s not possible to track email clients or geo-location, however, Omnisend can track your sales on the following channels: email, SMS, push notifications. A new feature gives users a lifecycle map, highlighting which contacts need nurturing, are at risk, are loyal customers, etc. You’ll also have access to a customer retention report. |
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Languages |
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Only available in English |
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Further Features |
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Spam- and Design-Testing |
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You can preview your design on desktop & mobile and send a test email, but it’s not possible to see how your email will look on specific email clients. Spam testing not available. |
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Bounce Management |
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Hard bounces are shown in reports. If the emails to the same subscriber are soft bounced three times in a row, Omnisend counts it as a hard bounce and does not send any emails to this address anymore. |
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Blacklist |
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Not available |
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Storage available for data and images |
Unlimited |
No limit on quantity of stored images. Max size of uploaded image should be 5 MB |
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Pro Features |
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Authentication |
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SPF and DKIM (Domain Keys). |
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Own Domain |
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Available on Pro plan. |
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Different levels of account access |
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Levels are as follows: content creator, campaign coordinator, analyst, manager, admin and owner. |
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Integrations |
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Omnisend integrates with all the popular ecommerce platforms: Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce (WordPress), Magento, OpenCart, Drupal Commerce, Volusion. Other types of integrations are limited. |
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Landing Page Editor |
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Minimalist and modern designs. The free plan allows for unlimited landing pages. |
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Support |
4.5/5 |
24/7 email and chat support available on the Standard plan. The support agents are friendly and do their best to help you. A detailed knowledge base is also available. You’ll have access to email support on the free plan. |
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Overall rating |
4/5 |
Omnisend has a great deal to offer email marketers with its wide range of advanced features. We hope to see spam and design testing features added in the near future, as well as an undo button in the editor. |
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the fact that Omnisend focuses specifically on email marketing for ecommerce is a big point in their favor. Specializing in this area means that what it offers online store owners is tailored to their needs and is done well.
You’ll find a host of ecommerce automations at your disposal as well as advanced segmentation, transactional emails and SMS marketing. The email template designs are also very attractive and modern.
Omnisend Alternatives
GetResponse is a powerful alternative to Omnisend with good automations, landing pages and a unique autofunnel feature. Unlike Omnisend, GetResponse’s platform is available in more than 20 languages, and you can track email clients and geo-location.
ActiveCampaign stands out for being one of the platforms with smarter automations. They are not only very powerful, but also straightforward to use.
MailerLite is for those who don’t run an online store, but who need an easy-to -use, affordable email marketing tool.
FAQ
Is Omnisend better than Mailchimp?
It depends on the use case, as both have their own limitations and advantages. Find out more here.
How to use Omnisend with Shopify
The simplest way is to add Omnisend from Shopify Market Place and register your Omnisend account from ‘Shopify admin’.
About Roberta Phillips
Latest Updates
16 Sept 2021 - Prices updated
08 Jul 2021 - New features and FAQs added
