What Is Omnisend?
Omnisend is a marketing automation platform built for e-commerce that brings email, SMS, and push notifications into a single dashboard. On the Shopify App Store, it’s listed as Omnisend Email Marketing & SMS and carries the Built for Shopify badge, meaning it meets Shopify’s highest standards for performance, design, and integration.
The app launched on Shopify in March 2014, and over 90,000 brands use it today. With a 4.7 rating across 2,932 reviews (89% are 5-star), it’s one of the highest-rated marketing apps on the platform.
What makes Omnisend different from pure email tools is the multi-channel approach. Instead of managing separate apps for email campaigns, SMS blasts, and web push notifications, you build everything from one place and combine channels in the same automation workflows.
First Impressions and Setup
Installing Omnisend from the Shopify App Store takes under a minute. Once authorized, it syncs your product catalog, customer data, and order history automatically. The onboarding flow walks you through four steps: choose your marketing channels, pick a signup form template, select an automation workflow to activate, and create your first campaign.
The dashboard opens to a clean overview showing your subscriber count, recent campaign performance, and active automations. There’s a demo store available at omnisend-demo-store.myshopify.com if you want to see the interface before installing.
The drag-and-drop email builder includes e-commerce content blocks and mobile-responsive templates.
What impressed us during setup was how quickly you can go from zero to live. We had an abandoned cart automation running and a signup popup live on our test store within 20 minutes. No custom code, no developer needed.
Key Features We Tested
Email Campaigns
Omnisend includes 250+ pre-made email templates organized by use case: welcome emails, promotional campaigns, seasonal sales, product launches, and newsletters. The drag-and-drop editor is genuinely easy to use, with e-commerce-specific content blocks like product listings, discount codes, and product recommendation widgets.
The AI email copy generator creates subject lines, preheaders, and body text based on your campaign goal. During testing, the AI-generated subject lines performed about on par with our manually written ones in A/B tests - not dramatically better, but a solid time-saver when you need to move quickly.
One feature we particularly liked: you can build an email once and Omnisend automatically adapts it for different screen sizes. The mobile preview is accurate and saved us from sending poorly formatted emails on more than one occasion.
Automation Workflows
The visual automation builder is where Omnisend shines for merchants who don’t want to spend hours configuring complex flows. Pre-built workflows cover the essentials:
- Abandoned cart recovery - one-click setup, sends reminders to shoppers who left items behind
- Welcome series - greets new subscribers with your brand story and first-purchase incentive
- Browse abandonment - reaches people who looked at products without adding to cart
- Post-purchase follow-up - thanks buyers and suggests related products
- Win-back campaigns - targets customers who haven’t purchased recently
- Price drop alerts - notifies subscribers when items they viewed are discounted
- Back-in-stock notifications - tells interested shoppers when inventory returns
The visual automation builder lets you combine email, SMS, and push notifications in a single workflow.
The key differentiator is that these workflows can combine email, SMS, and push notifications in a single sequence. For example: send an abandoned cart email after 1 hour, follow up with a push notification after 4 hours, then send an SMS with a discount code after 24 hours if the cart is still open. All configured in one flow, no external tools needed.
SMS Marketing
SMS is built into the platform rather than bolted on as an add-on. Every plan includes some SMS credits ($1 worth on the free plan, more on paid plans). You manage SMS consent collection through the same signup forms used for email, send campaigns from the same campaign builder, and track SMS revenue in the same analytics dashboard.
Global SMS campaigns are supported, which matters for stores selling internationally. The compliance tools handle opt-in regulations automatically, though the initial setup for SMS regulatory compliance can be a bit confusing based on merchant feedback.
Web Push Notifications
This is a feature most competitors either don’t offer or charge extra for. Omnisend lets you send web push notifications to subscribers who’ve opted in through their browser. The free plan includes 500 per month, and paid plans offer unlimited pushes.
Push notifications work well for time-sensitive offers (flash sales, limited inventory) because they appear immediately on the subscriber’s device even when they’re not on your site. They had the highest click-through rate of any channel in our testing, though the audience was smaller since not everyone opts in.
List Building Tools
Omnisend includes built-in tools for growing your email and SMS lists:
- Exit-intent popups - triggered when a visitor moves to close the tab
- Spin-to-win wheels - gamified signup forms with discount prizes
- Signup forms - embedded forms for any page
- Landing pages - standalone pages for campaigns
- Countdown timers - urgency elements for promotions
The built-in form builder includes popups, landing pages, spin-to-win wheels, and coupon forms.
Each form type has templates you can customize with the visual editor. You can set targeting rules based on page visited, time on site, scroll depth, and whether the visitor is new or returning. The A/B testing feature for popups lets you test different offers against each other.
What the Dashboard Looks Like
The Omnisend interface follows a clean, modern layout. The main dashboard gives you a quick snapshot: total subscribers, emails sent, revenue generated from email and SMS, and automation performance. Everything is organized in the left sidebar: Campaigns, Automations, Forms, Segments, and Reports.
The email editor shows a live preview of your email as you drag blocks around. The automation builder uses a flowchart-style canvas where you connect triggers, delays, conditions, and messages. You can see at a glance how many people entered each step and where they dropped off.
The reporting section breaks down performance by channel (email vs. SMS vs. push), by campaign, and by automation. Revenue attribution tracks which messages directly led to purchases, giving you clear ROI data for each marketing effort.
The forms builder has a side-by-side layout: editor controls on the left, live preview on the right. You can switch between desktop and mobile views to ensure forms look right on both.
Pricing Breakdown
Omnisend uses a contact-based pricing model. The base prices look affordable, but they scale with your list size.
Free Plan
- 250 contacts
- 500 emails/month
- 500 web push notifications/month
- $1 in SMS credits
- 250+ templates
- All automation workflows
- 24/7 email and live chat support
Standard - $16/month (500 contacts)
- 6,000 emails/month
- Unlimited push notifications
- $1 in SMS credits
- Priority support
- Optional account expert ($400/month add-on)
Pro - $59/month (2,500 contacts)
- Unlimited emails
- Bonus SMS credits equal to plan value
- Advanced reporting
- Personalized product recommender
- Optional account expert ($400/month add-on)
Important pricing note: These base prices apply to the minimum contact counts shown above. As your list grows, costs increase proportionally. At 10,000 contacts, the Standard plan runs around $100/month. At 50,000 contacts, some merchants report paying $500-600+/month. Always use the pricing calculator on Omnisend’s site for an accurate estimate based on your list size.
Integrations
Omnisend works natively with Shopify Checkout and Shopify Flow. Third-party integrations include Gorgias (support), Justuno (conversion optimization), Recharge (subscriptions), Aftership (order tracking), Loox (reviews), and Yotpo (UGC).
The Shopify Flow integration is useful for triggering Omnisend actions based on custom Shopify events, like tagging customers in Omnisend when they reach a certain order threshold in Shopify.
Pros and Cons
What we liked:
- True multi-channel platform (email + SMS + push) in one app
- Built for Shopify badge means tight, reliable integration
- 24/7 support available even on the free plan
- Pre-built automations get you running fast
- 250+ email templates save design time
- Web push notifications included at no extra cost
- 89% of reviews are 5-star
What could be better:
- Pricing transparency could improve - base prices don’t show how costs scale
- SMS regulatory setup is confusing for some merchants
- Advanced reporting is locked behind the Pro plan
- $400/month for a dedicated account expert is steep
- 5% one-star reviews mention billing disputes and unexpected charges
Who Should Use Omnisend?
Omnisend is ideal for small to mid-size Shopify stores that want email, SMS, and push notifications in one platform without managing multiple apps. If you’re currently paying for separate email and SMS tools, consolidating to Omnisend could save both money and time.
It’s particularly strong for merchants who want solid marketing automation without a steep learning curve. The pre-built workflows and intuitive editor mean you can be up and running in under an hour, even with no prior email marketing experience.
For stores with very large lists (50K+ contacts) or those needing enterprise-level segmentation, Klaviyo may be worth the premium. But for the majority of Shopify stores, Omnisend delivers more than enough capability at a competitive price.
Verdict
Omnisend earns its 4.7 rating. It’s the best multi-channel marketing app for Shopify stores that want everything in one place without the complexity of enterprise tools. The combination of email, SMS, and push notifications in a single automation builder is genuinely useful, and the free plan is generous enough to get started with real results.
The main caveat is pricing at scale. Make sure you understand how costs grow with your contact list before committing to a long-term plan. For stores with under 10,000 contacts, Omnisend offers exceptional value. Beyond that, run the numbers to make sure it still fits your budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Omnisend better than Klaviyo for Shopify?
It depends on your priorities. Omnisend is better for stores that want email, SMS, and push notifications in one simple platform at a lower price point. Klaviyo is stronger for advanced segmentation and data-driven email marketing. For small to mid-size stores wanting an easy all-in-one solution, Omnisend is often the better fit. For stores focused purely on email marketing sophistication, Klaviyo edges ahead.
Does Omnisend have a free plan for Shopify?
Yes. Omnisend's free plan includes up to 250 contacts, 500 emails per month, 500 web push notifications, and $1 in SMS credits. You also get access to all automation workflows and 250+ templates, which makes it one of the more feature-complete free plans available for Shopify email marketing.
Can Omnisend replace multiple marketing apps?
In many cases, yes. Omnisend combines email marketing, SMS campaigns, push notifications, pop-up forms, and segmentation into one platform. If you're currently using separate apps for email, SMS, and list building, switching to Omnisend can simplify your stack and reduce costs. However, for advanced use cases like detailed SEO or sophisticated A/B testing, you may still need specialized tools.
How much does Omnisend really cost as my store grows?
The base prices of Free, $16/mo, and $59/mo apply to small contact counts (250-2,500). As your list grows, pricing scales accordingly. Several merchants report costs of $500-600+ per month once their contact lists reach 50,000+. Always check the pricing calculator for your specific contact count before committing to a plan.