Selling something on a Shopify store is much more than just setting up a good product page and offering an enticing discount. It is also about great communication with online shoppers that choose to subscribe to alerts or make a purchase from you. That’s where emails play an important role in your Shopify marketing strategy. Be it to convert subscribers into shoppers or customers into repeat sales. But there are Shopify email limits that you need to know of!
But first, let’s quickly look over why Shopify email marketing still matters for your store.
As per Statista 2020, 3.9 billion people were communicating via email in the year 2019. This number is predicted to grow up to 4.3 billion in 2023.
A healthy business depends on how well you communicate. An email has always played a huge role there. From nudging subscribers to purchase, sending Shopify abandoned cart email, or sending Shopify order confirmation email, emails come in handy everywhere.
To be able to use email, leverage email marketing platform for Shopify. While these apps come with a plethora of features, they also add a considerable overhead cost to running your email marketing campaigns.
That is why for those sellers who are just starting out, Shopify Email is a great option. But it comes with its limits.
In this article, we will tell you all about Shopify email limits so that you can utilize the Shopify email marketing app and communicate with your subscribers and customers in an effective way.
PS. If you’re already using Shopify Email and are looking to upgrade to another app that offers better email templates and features, check out BayEngage today.
What do you mean by Shopify email limits?
The Shopify Email app is free for all Shopify stores, and they do have plenty of emails for each store to handle. That’s why they have set Shopify email limits – basically, a set number of emails that you as a store can trigger to your subscribers and customers per week if you’re using the app.
These limits are necessary so that the server can handle the load for all the stores using Shopify Email.
How many emails can you send using Shopify Email?
Shopify Email is an easy and economical option for many small businesses out there who are getting started with email marketing. But just like any other free solution, it does come with its own limits.
There is a limit of five email activities per week. It is set by default to zero every seven days at midnight UTC.
But does it mean that you can send out only five emails per week? No.
Each email activity allows you to email up to 40,000 subscribers. If your concern is that you have a subscriber count of more than 40,000, you can create smaller groups or segment your email lists to target it better.
However, there is a limit of sending 2500 emails per campaign for some stores. You can increase this limit to 40,000 emails per campaign, provided your store has paid invoices, positive email engagement from your current subscribers, and published products.
Now that you know about the Shopify email limits let’s quickly go over what happens if you do or are about to reach the threshold.
What happens when you reach your Shopify email limit?
If you are a merchant with a paid Shopify email plan, you get around 2500 emails to send every month. This limit is calculated keeping certain points in mind – let’s go over the following information slowly now.
The email count is based on the individual addresses to which the email is sent. For instance, if 500 subscribers receive emails, the email count is considered 500.
This limit of 2500 is reset at the beginning of each month, and no unused emails are carried forward to the next month.
Shopify email does not have any additional subscription plan, and it only charges you for the emails you send.
If you wish to send any emails over the limit of 2500, there is an additional cost of $0.001 per email, which is not billed until the amount reaches $0.005.
Apart from the monthly limit of 2500 emails, there is a weekly limit as well. There is a limit of five email campaigns per month and this limit is reset at the start of every week.
It is important to know Shopify email limits if you wish to use the app on your store. But, if you are a store that requires generating more frequent communication with subscribers, leads, and customers, Shopify email limits could be restricting you.
In that case, you should look at Shopify email marketing apps like BayEngage for your store.
But before you make the jump or start considering if you need to go beyond Shopify email limits, we recommend identifying your email frequency. The number of times your subscribers and customers want to hear from you will vary based on who your audience is and what you’re selling.
How to find your email frequency?
If there is one thing to learn from these limits, including those of Shopify emails, it is to know how frequently you need to communicate with your audience. This means you have to find your email frequency.
Knowing an approximate email frequency helps you strategize better. It also helps you leverage Shopify email limits.
So what is the right email frequency for you? Let’s go over a few points to keep in mind before you decide.
#1 Value
Ask yourself: How many times will you have something valuable to send to your subscribers? Whether it is a new launch or a sale, or even a user guide, each email should add some value to the time of your subscribers and eventually aim to convert them into customers. Once you have a concrete answer, you will be able to figure out how many emails to send.
This may also depend on your sales and discount strategies and how frequently you’re creating content for a blog, YouTube channel, or even social media.
#2 Size of your store
If you are a large e-commerce store selling various brands or have a big inventory, you will have a lot of information and deals to offer. Shopify email automation will automatically increase the cadence of your emails to be able to bring them all into the limelight. On the other hand, if you are a small brand with a limited catalog, you may want to send lesser emails to avoid sounding repetitive.
Here’s an example of the Old Navy. Since the brand has a vast catalog of products under different categories, they tend to use emails more frequently to promote them.
#3 Type of product/service
The type of products/ services you sell automatically means your audience’s expectations are different. Your email frequency should match what your audience perceives you as and how frequently they’d like to be communicated with.
For example, if you are a luxury brand, sending out daily emails would not be a wise choice, considering the niche subscribers you are catering to. High-value products can’t be pushed at a daily cadence!
On the other hand, if you’re selling groceries online, you may want to reach out to subscribers on a daily basis to let them know what’s in and fresh!
#4 Competition
It’s a good practice to keep an eye on your competitive brands, especially the ones who sell similar products/ services and are targeting the same audience.
Look into their email strategy. Keep a close watch on their frequency and try to map it with the value they’re offering. Also, try to figure out the engagement they’re able to drive via these emails.
If the Shopify newsletters seem to be their channel of primary communication, you may want to increase your email newsletter frequency to match theirs.
#5 Subscriber Expectations
You need to understand what the consumers are subscribing for — are they signing up for your emails because they wish to know more about the product or service you have to offer, or are they more interested in the deals and discounts? A good way to do this would be by conducting a quick survey of your store. Or you can simply ask your subscribers what they expect to hear from you in their emails. You can do the same via your welcome email, where you can insert options that the subscribers can click on. This will help you create better content for them and reduce the chances of them unsubscribing.
Now that you know how to find your email frequency to leverage Shopify email limits let’s go over a few best practices you should be following.
Golden rules to keep in mind to make the most out of your email frequency?
You know what factors to keep in mind while finding your email frequency. Now let’s talk about how you make the most out of the frequency you choose – be it to email your subscribers daily or once a week!
#1 Segment your email lists
A one-size-fits-all policy does not work all the time. It is important to target your audience based on demography, gender, and other such parameters and segment your email lists accordingly. You can also study customer behavior and pattern and segment them to send contextual campaigns.
Segmenting your email lists can help you differentiate the frequency you want to follow for each set of customers. For example, subscribers who haven’t made the first purchase may need to be emailed more frequently. On the other hand, those who have made at least two purchases from you need not require so many nudges!
This way, you can also stay way within the Shopify email limits as well!
#2 Increase the frequency slowly
Once you have pinned down a number as per various segments, set a practical frequency. Start sending out your first batch of emails and monitor the results closely. Then work on either increasing or decreasing the frequency of emails you send.
For example, as soon as you feel that the subscriber count is falling and you have been using a high frequency, reduce the number of emails you send.
Similarly, if a lot of your subscribers have been reaching out to you saying they missed out on products and deals, it might be a good time to increase the frequency of the Shopify email notification.
#3 Offer an ‘opt-down’ option
This is a great way to prevent your subscribers from outright unsubscribing. An opt-down option gives your subscribers the option to cut down on the number of times they would like to hear from you. This means they will still stay on as subscribers and may convert as customers too, but would not want as many emails as you are sending.
For example, let them choose if they want to hear from you daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. This may require creating different email marketing strategies, but the effort is worth it!
When you start sending out emails, remember, your email marketing strategy will evolve with time. While in the beginning, your frequency may fit well within the Shopify email limits, you may soon outgrow them.
So keep a close watch on how your subscribers and customers are responding to your emails and the revenue you’re generating out of the campaigns.
#4 Set expectations at the time of subscription
Set subscriber expectations at the time of sign-ups. Let them know in advance how many emails you would be sending and what they can expect in those emails. Stick to those expectations.
For instance, if you welcome your subscribers by telling them you’d send them occasional emails, daily mails would turn them off. It would cause them to unsubscribe, let alone convert them into regular customers.
Every consumer subscribes for a different reason. Ensure that you communicate what they should expect from you at the point of subscription.
Leveraging Shopify email limits to your best
Sometimes, limits can be beneficial instead of being a restriction. The same holds for Shopify email limits. When you know your subscribers well and how many times they would like to hear from you, you wouldn’t have to worry about the limit.
The reason being that you’ll be able to get your message through effectively well within those Shopify email limits, driving more of your subscribers to your store.
The hack to overcoming Shopify email limits being a rock-solid strategy!
Looking for ways to make your Shopify email marketing effective?
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