Retail and ecommerce brands see an average email marketing ROI of $45 for every dollar spent. That figure alone explains why ecommerce CRM software has become essential for online stores serious about growth. Yet most store owners struggle to identify which platform actually fits their operational needs, budget constraints, and technical capabilities.
The market has exploded because scattered customer data costs revenue. When purchase history lives in Shopify, email engagement sits in one tool, and support tickets exist somewhere else entirely, personalisation becomes impossible. I’ve spent years helping ecommerce brands untangle this mess, and the right CRM makes all the difference between campaigns that convert and emails that get ignored.
This guide breaks down the leading ecommerce CRM platforms, examining their specific strengths, pricing models, and ideal use cases. Each recommendation includes practical guidance on implementation, alongside honest assessments of where each tool falls short.
If you’re unsure which platform suits your store best, our ecommerce SEO consulting services can help you evaluate options and implement the right solution.
Klaviyo
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Exceptional Shopify integration depth | Pricing escalates rapidly with list growth |
| Powerful segmentation and automation | Steeper learning curve than basic tools |
| Predictive analytics and AI features | SMS features add substantial cost |
| Free plan available for small stores | Customer support limited on free tier |
Over 151,000 customers now use Klaviyo to manage customer relationships, a figure that jumped from 130,000 just twelve months earlier. That 11.2% ownership stake Shopify holds in the company explains why the integration between both platforms runs so deep.
How Data Unification Changes Everything
Every browsing session, purchase, email open, and support interaction feeds into a single customer profile. This unified view enables segmentation that generic email tools simply cannot match.
The platform automatically tracks over 200 behavioural data points per customer. When someone browses a product three times in a week, adds it to cart, then abandons, that entire sequence becomes actionable through automated workflows. Predictive analytics build on this foundation by forecasting expected purchase dates and customer lifetime value, allowing stores to prioritise outreach based on revenue potential rather than simple engagement metrics. I recommend starting here for Shopify stores specifically because no other platform matches this depth of native integration.
What makes the segmentation particularly powerful is conditional logic within flows. A single abandoned cart automation can branch based on cart value, customer lifetime value, product category, or previous purchase behaviour, which means high-value first-time visitors might receive a different incentive than loyal customers who rarely need discounts.
The branching extends beyond simple if/then logic into genuinely sophisticated territory. You can create flows that respond differently based on time since last purchase, total lifetime spend, specific products viewed, email engagement history over the past 90 days, or any combination of these factors. This level of sophistication separates serious ecommerce email from basic newsletter blasts.
AI Features Worth Knowing
K:AI brought several AI features to the platform that genuinely save time.
Marketing Agent automatically generates campaign concepts, subject lines, and email content based on a store’s URL and past performance data. Customer Agent handles routine support queries, product recommendations, and even return initiations before handing off to human agents when conversations require escalation.
My experience suggests these features need human oversight but reduce creative bottlenecks considerably. The subject line suggestions in particular have proven useful for stores running frequent campaigns who struggle to maintain freshness in their messaging.
Integration Ecosystem
The platform connects with over 220 third-party applications including loyalty programmes like Smile.io, review platforms like Yotpo, and subscription tools like Recharge, with integrations pulling product catalogues, inventory levels, and customer behaviour into the CRM in real time rather than just basic order syncing.
Pricing Structure
Contact-based pricing means costs increase as subscriber lists grow, with the free tier supporting up to 250 active profiles and 500 monthly email sends.
| Contact Range | Email Only | Email + SMS |
|---|---|---|
| 251-500 | £20/month | £35/month |
| 5,000 | £75/month | £90/month |
| 50,000 | £790/month | £805/month |
SMS credits carry additional costs beyond the base subscription that vary by destination country, which catches some brands off guard during their first major promotional push. Budget accordingly if SMS forms part of your strategy.
Omnisend
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Generous free tier with full features | Less powerful than Klaviyo for segmentation |
| Excellent WooCommerce integration | English-only support |
| True omnichannel (email, SMS, push) | No native Google Analytics integration |
| Easy learning curve | Weaker for B2B use cases |
For WooCommerce stores and brands prioritising multichannel messaging from day one, Omnisend offers a more accessible alternative to Klaviyo. The platform now serves over 150,000 ecommerce businesses and has invested heavily in WordPress integration capabilities that genuinely outperform most competitors.
The Omnichannel Advantage
Email, SMS, and web push notifications sit within a single interface rather than requiring separate tools.
Customers might receive an email, then an SMS reminder, then a push notification based on their engagement patterns. SMS messages open at 98% rates compared to email’s typical 20-30%, making this channel particularly valuable for time-sensitive promotions and abandoned cart recovery. The ability to orchestrate across all three channels from one workflow builder eliminates the coordination headaches that plague stores using separate tools for each channel.
WooCommerce Integration Depth
The WooCommerce integration goes deeper than most competitors, and this matters enormously for WordPress store owners.
Single-use discount codes generate on the fly and merge directly into marketing emails. Workflows trigger based on cart activity, order status changes, and specific product purchases, all native to the plugin with minimal setup required.
Product recommendations pull directly from WooCommerce catalogues, automatically populating email templates with images, descriptions, and current pricing. For stores with hundreds or thousands of products, this automation eliminates hours of manual email creation that would otherwise fall on the marketing team.
The checkout recovery flows deserve specific mention. Unlike generic abandoned cart emails, these can trigger at different stages of the checkout process, allowing different messaging for customers who abandoned at shipping selection versus payment entry. This granularity improves recovery rates because the messaging can address the specific friction point.
Form building connects directly to list management, so popup signups, embedded forms, and landing pages all feed contacts into the right segments automatically with proper tagging applied from the moment of subscription.
Pre-Built Automation Library
Twenty-five pre-made automation workflows cover essential ecommerce scenarios.
Welcome sequences, abandoned cart recovery, order confirmations, shipping notifications, customer reactivation, and cross-selling opportunities all come templated and ready for customisation. Each workflow is adjustable through the drag-and-drop builder.
The customer lifecycle stage feature automatically segments contacts based on purchase history, creating a basic retention programme requiring minimal ongoing management. New customers, repeat buyers, at-risk customers, and lapsed purchasers each receive different treatment based on their behavioural classification.
Pricing and Value
Free accounts support up to 250 contacts with 500 monthly emails and 60 SMS credits. Unlike competitors who gate key functionality behind paid tiers, all automation and campaign features remain accessible at no cost.
Standard plans begin at £16 monthly for up to 500 contacts and 6,000 monthly emails. Pro plans start at £59 monthly, adding unlimited email sends and advanced reporting. The generous free tier makes this platform particularly attractive for stores testing email automation for the first time.
HubSpot
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Truly unified CRM across all touchpoints | Expensive at higher tiers |
| Excellent for combined B2B/B2C | Mandatory onboarding fees |
| Built-in commerce and payments | Less specialised for pure ecommerce |
| Strong attribution reporting | Steeper learning curve |
When ecommerce operations need more than email marketing, HubSpot becomes worth serious consideration. The platform bundles CRM, Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, Content Hub, and Commerce Hub into an integrated ecosystem that suits complex businesses far better than ecommerce-specific alternatives.
The All-in-One Reality
Most email platforms do one thing well. This platform attempts to handle customer relationships across every touchpoint from first website visit through post-purchase support.
For brands managing both B2B and B2C sales, running customer service operations, and coordinating sales teams, the unified data model prevents the fragmentation that plagues multi-tool setups. I find it particularly valuable for stores selling high-ticket items where sales conversations matter as much as marketing automation. The complete customer timeline showing every email, call, support ticket, and purchase in one view changes how teams approach customer relationships.
Marketing Hub Capabilities
Marketing Hub provides the email, automation, and campaign tools most similar to Klaviyo or Omnisend.
Workflow automation handles abandoned carts, post-purchase sequences, and re-engagement campaigns. The visual workflow builder allows complex conditional logic, though the interface takes longer to master than purpose-built ecommerce tools.
Where Marketing Hub excels is attribution reporting. For brands spending across multiple paid channels alongside organic efforts, understanding which touchpoints actually drive revenue becomes possible in ways that standalone email tools cannot provide. The attribution models range from first-touch to revenue-weighted, giving marketers flexibility in how they evaluate channel performance.
Commerce Hub Addition
Commerce Hub handles payment processing, invoicing, quotes, and subscription management directly within the platform, with Stripe and QuickBooks integration simplifying financial operations for stores managing both one-time purchases and recurring revenue.
Pricing Complexity
The free CRM tier supports up to 1,000,000 contacts with basic features but is limited to 2 user seats after a recent reduction from unlimited.
Starter Customer Platform costs £9-15 per seat monthly with annual commitment. Marketing Hub Professional starts at £800 monthly and Enterprise reaches £3,600 monthly. Mandatory onboarding fees on higher tiers can add thousands to initial setup costs.
The pricing complexity means careful evaluation before commitment. What appears affordable at starter level can become expensive quickly as you add hubs, seats, and contact tiers. Request detailed pricing for your specific use case rather than relying on published rates.
Drip
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent workflow builder with A/B testing | No free plan available |
| Unlimited email sends | Email support only (no phone) |
| Purchase intent scoring | Cannot search contacts by name |
| Ecommerce-focused from the ground up | Smaller integration library than competitors |
The platform that branded itself “the first ecommerce CRM” has maintained a loyal following among marketers who prioritise automation sophistication over breadth of features. Drip serves around 30,000 ecommerce marketers and is now owned by Leadpages.
Visual Workflow Builder
The visual workflow builder includes fork elements for A/B testing directly within automation sequences.
You can test different subject lines, offers, or timing within the same flow rather than building separate automations. This capability saves considerable time while generating data that informs broader strategy decisions. My preference leans toward this approach for optimisation because it allows statistical significance testing within the context of actual customer journeys rather than artificial test environments.
Workflows trigger based on virtually any combination of behaviours, tags, and custom fields. The platform handles complex conditional logic well enough to allow sophisticated personalisation based on purchase history, browsing behaviour, and engagement patterns.
Purchase Intent Scoring
The platform assigns intent scores based on customer behaviour to help prioritise outreach to those most likely to convert.
This scoring considers browse frequency, cart additions, email engagement, and purchase history to surface high-intent prospects for timely intervention. For stores with longer consideration cycles where identifying ready-to-buy customers can significantly impact conversion rates, this feature proves particularly valuable. The scoring model adapts based on your specific customer behaviour patterns rather than applying generic industry benchmarks.
Integration and Pricing
Ninety third-party integrations cover major ecommerce platforms, payment processors, and marketing tools, with solid connections to Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce for order data syncing.
There’s no free tier here, which sets the platform apart from most competitors. A 14-day trial allows evaluation before commitment.
Paid plans start at £39 monthly for 2,500 subscribers, scaling to £79 monthly for 5,000 contacts and £149 monthly for 10,000 contacts. All plans include unlimited email sends, which removes the anxiety around send limits that affects some competitors during peak promotional periods. Custom integrations through the API extend functionality for stores with specific technical requirements.
ActiveCampaign
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Advanced automation at accessible pricing | CRM now requires add-on purchase |
| Automation map visualisation | Interface can feel dated |
| Combined marketing and sales | Recent pricing restructure adds complexity |
| Enterprise integrations available | Less ecommerce-specific than alternatives |
Marketing automation and sales CRM come together in ActiveCampaign, making it suitable for stores managing both automated campaigns and sales team activity. The platform serves both B2B and B2C use cases, though recent pricing changes have shifted the value proposition.
Automation Sophistication
The automation builder handles conditional logic, waits, goals, and splits with impressive flexibility.
An automation map feature visualises how different workflows connect and trigger each other. I’ve found this particularly useful for stores running multiple seasonal campaigns alongside always-on sequences, because seeing how everything interconnects prevents the automation sprawl that eventually breaks most email programmes.
Where this platform excels is in the sophistication available at mid-tier pricing. Stores that would struggle to afford equivalent capability in other platforms can access advanced automation features here. The goal-based automation structure differs from competitors by allowing you to define success criteria that automatically remove contacts from sequences once they’ve converted, preventing the awkward experience of customers receiving promotional emails after purchase.
Sales CRM Integration
Deal pipelines, contact scoring, and task management sit alongside marketing automation.
For stores with sales teams handling custom orders, quotes, or high-value transactions, this combination prevents the disconnect between marketing and sales that undermines customer experience. When a prospect engages with marketing content, that engagement history is visible to sales reps during their conversations.
The lead scoring model weights activities differently based on your sales process, so you might assign higher scores to pricing page visits than blog reads, or weight email opens less heavily than click-throughs to product pages.
Task automation triggers follow-up reminders when leads hit certain score thresholds or when deals stall at specific pipeline stages, keeping sales activity proactive rather than reactive.
Integrations with Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics on higher tiers extend functionality for enterprises with existing CRM investments, making the platform a bridge option for stores transitioning between tools or requiring connections to legacy systems.
Recent Pricing Changes
The platform moved CRM features from base plans to add-ons called Pipelines and Sales Engagement, which affects total cost for stores needing sales functionality.
Starter plans begin at £15 monthly for 1,000 contacts, Plus at £49 monthly, Pro at £79 monthly, and Enterprise at £145 monthly. The structural changes mean careful evaluation of which specific capabilities your operation requires before committing.
Freshsales
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Built-in phone and chat | Limited marketing automation |
| Competitive per-user pricing | Best suited for sales-heavy operations |
| 21-day free trial | Ecommerce integrations less deep |
| AI-powered deal insights | Bot sessions capped monthly |
Sales-focused CRM from Freshworks fits stores where personal selling drives significant revenue. Freshsales includes built-in communication tools that eliminate the need for separate phone systems or chat software.
Built-In Communication
Cloud telephony with virtual numbers in 90+ countries means sales teams can call prospects directly from the CRM.
Built-in chat handles website visitor conversations with full context from previous interactions. For stores selling custom products, high-ticket items, or B2B accounts, having these communication capabilities integrated with customer data removes friction from the sales process and ensures no conversation happens in isolation from purchase history.
The call recording and logging happens automatically, creating a searchable archive of customer conversations. This proves valuable for training, quality assurance, and resolving disputes about what was agreed during sales calls.
AI-Powered Sales Features
AI-powered lead scoring through the Freddy AI assistant identifies patterns in successful deals and surfaces prospects exhibiting similar behaviours, while deal insights flag stalled opportunities and suggest next steps based on historical data, and visual deal pipelines handle sales process management with customisable stages reflecting your specific sales cycle.
Pricing Model
Pricing starts free for up to 3 users with basic CRM and built-in chat, then scales to Growth at £9 per user monthly, Pro at £39 per user monthly, and Enterprise at £59 per user monthly.
A 21-day free trial allows evaluation of Pro features before commitment. Because pricing scales per user rather than per contact, stores with larger customer databases but smaller teams often find this model more economical than contact-based alternatives. The per-user model also makes costs predictable regardless of list growth.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Enterprise-grade reliability and scale | Pricing excludes most SMBs |
| Unified B2B/B2C/D2C platform | Implementation costs £200k+ |
| Native Salesforce ecosystem integration | Requires specialist development talent |
| Einstein AI and Agentforce automation | Ongoing costs tied to revenue performance |
Enterprise retailers operating across multiple markets, currencies, and channels require capabilities beyond what mid-market tools provide. Salesforce Commerce Cloud delivers that enterprise-grade infrastructure, though at price points that exclude most small and mid-sized operations.
Enterprise Scale and Reliability
The platform processes orders for global retailers at massive scale, with Salesforce citing 99.99% uptime and capacity to handle 20,000 orders per minute.
This reliability matters when downtime during peak trading periods could cost millions. In North America alone, 76 of the top 2000 online retailers use the platform, generating over $136 billion in combined web sales according to Digital Commerce 360 data.
Unified Commerce Architecture
What separates this from mid-market tools is the unified approach across B2B, B2C, and D2C channels.
Brands managing wholesale accounts alongside consumer sales can operate from a single platform with shared catalogues, customer profiles, and inventory data. This eliminates the integration headaches that plague businesses trying to bolt together separate systems for each channel.
The headless commerce capabilities deserve mention for brands wanting custom frontend experiences. The API-first architecture allows any touchpoint to connect to the commerce engine, whether that’s a mobile app, in-store kiosk, voice assistant, or emerging channel not yet conceived. This flexibility protects against platform lock-in as customer expectations evolve.
AI Capabilities
Einstein AI analyses customer behaviour patterns to deliver personalised experiences across touchpoints.
Machine learning optimises product grids, search results, and recommendations based on individual customer signals. The system learns from every interaction, continuously refining its predictions about what each customer wants to see.
Agentforce brought autonomous AI agents that serve both B2B buyers and customer service teams in ways that fundamentally change how orders flow through the system. B2B buyers can now find products, place orders, and manage reorders through chat interfaces with pre-negotiated pricing applied automatically, which means routine purchasing no longer requires sales rep involvement. Customer service agents benefit equally because they access complete order history and can modify orders directly from their console, eliminating the constant toggling between separate systems that slows resolution times.
Enterprise Pricing Reality
Costs follow a GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) model rather than flat subscription fees.
B2C Commerce Starter charges approximately 1% of GMV, Growth around 2%, and Plus 3%. B2B Commerce follows a per-order model starting at $4-8 per order depending on tier.
For a retailer generating £10 million in online sales, annual licensing could reach £100,000-300,000 before implementation costs. Implementation typically ranges from £200,000 to £1 million depending on complexity, with average builds landing between £300,000-500,000.
Total cost of ownership requires serious budget allocation. For retailers at scale, the operational efficiencies and native AI capabilities can justify the investment, but smaller operations should look to the other platforms covered in this guide.
Choosing the Right Ecommerce CRM
| Platform | Starting Price | Free Tier | Best For | Key Strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | £20/month | Yes (250 contacts) | Shopify stores prioritising email | Deep Shopify integration |
| Omnisend | £16/month | Yes (250 contacts) | WooCommerce and budget-conscious | All features on free plan |
| HubSpot | £9/seat/month | Yes (limited features) | Complex businesses with sales teams | All-in-one platform |
| Drip | £39/month | No (14-day trial) | Automation-focused ecommerce | Visual workflow builder |
| ActiveCampaign | £15/month | No (14-day trial) | Combined marketing and sales | Advanced automation |
| Freshsales | £9/user/month | Yes (3 users) | Sales-led ecommerce operations | Built-in communication tools |
| Salesforce Commerce Cloud | ~1% GMV | No | Enterprise global retailers | Scale and unified commerce |
The best CRM choice depends on your store’s specific situation. A Shopify store running primarily on email marketing has different requirements than a WooCommerce site with a sales team handling custom orders.
- For Shopify stores prioritising email marketing: Start with Klaviyo. The integration depth and market dominance in ecommerce email reflects genuine capability advantages, though costs escalate as contact lists grow.
- For WooCommerce sites on tighter budgets: Omnisend offers better value with similar core functionality and a more generous free tier.
- For complex B2B/B2C hybrid operations: HubSpot’s breadth suits businesses needing sales, service, and marketing in one platform despite higher costs.
- For automation-focused marketers: Drip’s workflow builder with built-in A/B testing provides sophistication that simpler tools lack.
- For sales-led operations: Freshsales fits stores where personal selling drives significant revenue, particularly high-ticket or custom products.
- For enterprise global retailers: Commerce Cloud delivers the scale and reliability that smaller platforms cannot match, though at price points requiring serious budget allocation.
Whichever platform you select, proper implementation determines results more than feature comparisons. If your team lacks bandwidth for CRM setup and conversion tracking configuration, consider partnering with specialists who can accelerate time to value.
Our ecommerce SEO consulting services help online stores select and implement the right CRM for their operations. Beyond platform selection, we can assist with strategy development and help you build CTAs that convert the traffic your CRM helps you nurture.
