BigCommerce email marketing is one of the most direct revenue levers available to online store owners, yet many merchants underuse it by relying on one-off campaigns instead of building a system. BigCommerce email marketing involves engaging prospects and existing customers via email to achieve marketing goals such as boosting sales. Since BigCommerce does not offer built-in email marketing capabilities, merchants rely on third-party integrations. That dependency is actually a strength: BigCommerce has over 1,200 enterprise integrations and ecommerce apps in its marketplace, giving you access to the most capable email marketing tools available.
The return on investment makes the investment straightforward. Statista reports that the average ROI for email marketing is $36 for every dollar spent, with retail, ecommerce, and consumer goods businesses reaching $45 for every dollar spent. For BigCommerce merchants already investing in traffic acquisition, email is the highest-yield channel to convert and retain that audience.
Key Takeaways
BigCommerce requires a third-party email marketing integration. Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailchimp, and ActiveCampaign are the leading options.
Automated emails drove 37% of all email-generated sales in 2024, despite accounting for just 2% of email volume.
In 2025, the global shopping cart abandonment rate was 75.38%, making abandoned cart flows the single most impactful automation to deploy.
Segmentation and personalization help brands deliver relevant content that resonates with individual shoppers and increases conversion rates.
Choosing the right platform for your store size and goals determines how much of that ROI you can realistically capture.
Why Email Remains Central to BigCommerce Revenue
In 2024, BigCommerce merchants collectively generated $34 billion in gross merchandise volume, reflecting year-over-year growth of 18%. Email marketing plays a direct role in sustaining that kind of growth by driving repeat purchases and increasing customer lifetime value without proportionally increasing ad spend.
Customer acquisition costs have surged by 40% between 2023 and 2025 for ecommerce brands, driven by increased platform competition and reduced targeting precision. In that environment, owning your customer list is not a nice-to-have. It is a competitive requirement.
BigCommerce email marketing is one of the most direct revenue levers available to online store owners, yet many merchants underuse it by relying on one-off campaigns instead of building a system. BigCommerce email marketing involves engaging prospects and existing customers via email to achieve marketing goals such as boosting sales. Since BigCommerce does not offer built-in email marketing capabilities, merchants rely on third-party integrations. That dependency is actually a strength: BigCommerce has over 1,200 enterprise integrations and ecommerce apps in its marketplace, giving you access to the most capable email marketing tools available.
The return on investment makes the investment straightforward. Statista reports that the average ROI for email marketing is $36 for every dollar spent, with retail, ecommerce, and consumer goods businesses reaching $45 for every dollar spent. For BigCommerce merchants already investing in traffic acquisition, email is the highest-yield channel to convert and retain that audience.
Key Takeaways
BigCommerce requires a third-party email marketing integration. Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailchimp, and ActiveCampaign are the leading options.
Automated emails drove 37% of all email-generated sales in 2024, despite accounting for just 2% of email volume.
In 2025, the global shopping cart abandonment rate was 75.38%, making abandoned cart flows the single most impactful automation to deploy.
Segmentation and personalization help brands deliver relevant content that resonates with individual shoppers and increases conversion rates.
Choosing the right platform for your store size and goals determines how much of that ROI you can realistically capture.
Why Email Remains Central to BigCommerce Revenue
In 2024, BigCommerce merchants collectively generated $34 billion in gross merchandise volume, reflecting year-over-year growth of 18%. Email marketing plays a direct role in sustaining that kind of growth by driving repeat purchases and increasing customer lifetime value without proportionally increasing ad spend.
Customer acquisition costs have surged by 40% between 2023 and 2025 for ecommerce brands, driven by increased platform competition and reduced targeting precision. In that environment, owning your customer list is not a nice-to-have. It is a competitive requirement.
42% of marketers say email is their most effective channel, far ahead of social media and paid search, which both sit at just 16%. In 2024, 50% of consumers said they purchased directly from an email, more than from social media posts or ads.
For BigCommerce merchants specifically, the platform's open API architecture means email tools can pull live product data, sync purchase history, and trigger automations based on real shopper behavior, not approximations.
Choosing the Right Email Marketing Platform for BigCommerce
For BigCommerce merchants, integrations with Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailchimp, and ActiveCampaign are the top options. Each platform connects to your store's customer data, product catalog, and sales history. The right choice depends on your list size, automation needs, and budget.
Klaviyo
When you integrate with BigCommerce, your historic ecommerce, customer, and catalog data is synced into your Klaviyo account. The integration automatically adds Klaviyo's onsite tracking snippet to your BigCommerce store, which allows you to add sign-up forms and track when customers are active on your site.
This integration equips you with multi-channel automation tools to connect with your audience through email, SMS, and cart abandonment reminders. It also includes advanced features like AI-powered predictive analytics, dynamic audience segmentation, and in-depth performance tracking.
Klaviyo is the strongest choice for stores that need granular behavioral segmentation and are comfortable with its pricing model, which scales by contact count.
Omnisend
Omnisend is a strong email newsletter platform for online store owners, particularly those on BigCommerce, with a direct native integration. You can add products directly from your connected store using the Product Picker without manually copying links or images. Discount code generation is automated through BigCommerce connections. Personalized product recommendations based on a subscriber's order history appear in campaigns, and Omnisend segments those recommendations per recipient, so high-value customers see premium products while entry-level buyers see relevant alternatives.
Omnisend offers stronger BigCommerce alignment, more predictable pricing based on active subscribers, and a roadmap directly in line with BigCommerce merchants.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp integrates with BigCommerce to help merchants sync their store data, automate personalized marketing journeys, and drive repeat sales through powerful, data-backed insights. It suits smaller stores that want a broadly accessible platform with a recognizable interface and lower entry cost.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is excellent for automation and CRM features, making it ideal for stores that need both marketing and customer relationship tools in one platform.
The Core Email Flows Every BigCommerce Store Needs
Automations consistently outperform broadcast campaigns. Automated emails had 52% higher open rates, 332% higher click rates, and 2,361% better conversion rates compared to regular campaigns. The following flows should be live before you focus on campaign volume.
Welcome Series
42% of marketers say email is their most effective channel, far ahead of social media and paid search, which both sit at just 16%. In 2024, 50% of consumers said they purchased directly from an email, more than from social media posts or ads.
For BigCommerce merchants specifically, the platform's open API architecture means email tools can pull live product data, sync purchase history, and trigger automations based on real shopper behavior, not approximations.
Choosing the Right Email Marketing Platform for BigCommerce
For BigCommerce merchants, integrations with Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailchimp, and ActiveCampaign are the top options. Each platform connects to your store's customer data, product catalog, and sales history. The right choice depends on your list size, automation needs, and budget.
Klaviyo
When you integrate with BigCommerce, your historic ecommerce, customer, and catalog data is synced into your Klaviyo account. The integration automatically adds Klaviyo's onsite tracking snippet to your BigCommerce store, which allows you to add sign-up forms and track when customers are active on your site.
This integration equips you with multi-channel automation tools to connect with your audience through email, SMS, and cart abandonment reminders. It also includes advanced features like AI-powered predictive analytics, dynamic audience segmentation, and in-depth performance tracking.
Klaviyo is the strongest choice for stores that need granular behavioral segmentation and are comfortable with its pricing model, which scales by contact count.
Omnisend
Omnisend is a strong email newsletter platform for online store owners, particularly those on BigCommerce, with a direct native integration. You can add products directly from your connected store using the Product Picker without manually copying links or images. Discount code generation is automated through BigCommerce connections. Personalized product recommendations based on a subscriber's order history appear in campaigns, and Omnisend segments those recommendations per recipient, so high-value customers see premium products while entry-level buyers see relevant alternatives.
Omnisend offers stronger BigCommerce alignment, more predictable pricing based on active subscribers, and a roadmap directly in line with BigCommerce merchants.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp integrates with BigCommerce to help merchants sync their store data, automate personalized marketing journeys, and drive repeat sales through powerful, data-backed insights. It suits smaller stores that want a broadly accessible platform with a recognizable interface and lower entry cost.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is excellent for automation and CRM features, making it ideal for stores that need both marketing and customer relationship tools in one platform.
The Core Email Flows Every BigCommerce Store Needs
Automations consistently outperform broadcast campaigns. Automated emails had 52% higher open rates, 332% higher click rates, and 2,361% better conversion rates compared to regular campaigns. The following flows should be live before you focus on campaign volume.
Welcome Series
The welcome series is a crucial automated flow that immediately follows sign-up. It introduces new subscribers to your brand story, sets expectations, and delivers any promised discount code or incentive. For a deeper look at structuring this sequence, see Welcome Email Sequence Best Practices: 7 Proven Strategies.
Abandoned Cart Emails
If you are looking for a single flow to drive revenue, it is the abandoned cart series: abandoned cart flows drive the highest average revenue per recipient ($3.65) and the highest average conversion rate (3.33%) of all flows.
Send the first email within an hour of cart abandonment, the second within 24 hours, and the third within 48 to 72 hours. Timing matters because sending an email within one hour after abandonment boosts conversions by 20%.
Most abandoned cart flows are 2 to 3 emails. They should be 4 to 5, spaced over 7 to 10 days. The incremental emails do not cannibalize results; they catch the people who needed more time.
Browse Abandonment Emails
Browse abandonment emails target shoppers who viewed a product but did not add it to their cart. These are a key part of your automation strategy for converting interested browsers. Viewed product tracking allows you to track when customers view your products, which is necessary for building browse abandonment flows.
Post-Purchase and Win-Back Flows
Review request emails follow up on a purchase to solicit customer reviews and user-generated content. Product recommendation emails based on purchase history and browsing data drive repeat purchases and boost average order value. Re-engagement emails are designed to connect with inactive subscribers with an incentive or update to encourage them to re-engage.
Segmentation: The Multiplier for BigCommerce Email ROI
Four powerful ways to segment your BigCommerce subscriber list include demographics (age, location, gender), purchase history (past orders reveal what customers value), browsing behavior (track product views or category interest), and engagement level (reward loyal customers with early access while re-engaging inactive subscribers through win-back campaigns).
Tools like Omnisend connect to your BigCommerce store and build pre-built segments for you, such as window shoppers (subscribers who frequently visit your store but have not placed any orders).
Behavioral segmentation is particularly valuable. Action-based targeting goes deeper than age or location. Yesterday's buyers get different emails than last month's browsers. Big spenders see VIP content. Bargain hunters receive sale alerts.
For a closer look at applying segmentation to specific customer types, see 7 Email Personalization Techniques That Boost Conversions 47%.
Email Personalization on BigCommerce
75% of consumers prefer customized emails, with personalized subject lines boosting email open rates by up to 20 to 29%.
The welcome series is a crucial automated flow that immediately follows sign-up. It introduces new subscribers to your brand story, sets expectations, and delivers any promised discount code or incentive. For a deeper look at structuring this sequence, see Welcome Email Sequence Best Practices: 7 Proven Strategies.
Abandoned Cart Emails
If you are looking for a single flow to drive revenue, it is the abandoned cart series: abandoned cart flows drive the highest average revenue per recipient ($3.65) and the highest average conversion rate (3.33%) of all flows.
Send the first email within an hour of cart abandonment, the second within 24 hours, and the third within 48 to 72 hours. Timing matters because sending an email within one hour after abandonment boosts conversions by 20%.
Most abandoned cart flows are 2 to 3 emails. They should be 4 to 5, spaced over 7 to 10 days. The incremental emails do not cannibalize results; they catch the people who needed more time.
Browse Abandonment Emails
Browse abandonment emails target shoppers who viewed a product but did not add it to their cart. These are a key part of your automation strategy for converting interested browsers. Viewed product tracking allows you to track when customers view your products, which is necessary for building browse abandonment flows.
Post-Purchase and Win-Back Flows
Review request emails follow up on a purchase to solicit customer reviews and user-generated content. Product recommendation emails based on purchase history and browsing data drive repeat purchases and boost average order value. Re-engagement emails are designed to connect with inactive subscribers with an incentive or update to encourage them to re-engage.
Segmentation: The Multiplier for BigCommerce Email ROI
Four powerful ways to segment your BigCommerce subscriber list include demographics (age, location, gender), purchase history (past orders reveal what customers value), browsing behavior (track product views or category interest), and engagement level (reward loyal customers with early access while re-engaging inactive subscribers through win-back campaigns).
Tools like Omnisend connect to your BigCommerce store and build pre-built segments for you, such as window shoppers (subscribers who frequently visit your store but have not placed any orders).
Behavioral segmentation is particularly valuable. Action-based targeting goes deeper than age or location. Yesterday's buyers get different emails than last month's browsers. Big spenders see VIP content. Bargain hunters receive sale alerts.
For a closer look at applying segmentation to specific customer types, see 7 Email Personalization Techniques That Boost Conversions 47%.
Email Personalization on BigCommerce
75% of consumers prefer customized emails, with personalized subject lines boosting email open rates by up to 20 to 29%.
Beyond subject lines, personalization in BigCommerce email marketing extends to dynamic product blocks, purchase-triggered content, and predictive recommendations. Personalized product recommendations based on a subscriber's order history appear in campaigns. Omnisend segments those recommendations per recipient, so high-value customers see premium products while entry-level buyers see relevant alternatives.
Klaviyo's predictive analytics allow you to anticipate customer behavior, including predicting lifetime value and churn risk, letting you build flows that act before a customer disengages rather than after.
Personalization also applies to your abandoned cart strategy. With personalization, you can improve open rates by 26% simply by making the subject line more personalized, such as by mentioning the recipient's name. Personalized product offers and calls to action increase click-through rates by 41%.
Measuring BigCommerce Email Marketing Performance
Ecommerce email benchmarks to compare against: average open rate sits around 25 to 35% for B2C and 15 to 25% for B2B. A healthy click-through rate sits between 2 and 5%, and unsubscribe rates under 0.5% show your content is hitting the right notes. Most brands average $0.10 to $0.25 in revenue per email, but targeted sends like abandoned cart or product recommendation emails can easily outperform that.
Track these metrics at the flow level, not just the campaign level. Email drives 33.7% of total store revenue across high-performing portfolios, versus the industry average of roughly 27%. The gap between average and high-performing programs is almost entirely explained by automation coverage and segmentation depth.
Key metrics to monitor:
Open rate: A signal of subject line quality and sender reputation
Click-through rate (CTR): Indicates content relevance and CTA effectiveness
Revenue per recipient (RPR): The most direct measure of campaign impact
Conversion rate by flow: Identifies which automations are underperforming
Unsubscribe rate: Flags relevance problems before they become deliverability problems
Deliverability Foundations for BigCommerce Merchants
High deliverability is a prerequisite for any strategy to work. Using a free domain email address such as Gmail or Yahoo is bad practice. Those addresses are for personal use. Most internet service providers will automatically mark your emails as spam. An official email address helps with credibility to both subscribers and spam filters. It is also crucial for building a good sending reputation for your domain.
Beyond subject lines, personalization in BigCommerce email marketing extends to dynamic product blocks, purchase-triggered content, and predictive recommendations. Personalized product recommendations based on a subscriber's order history appear in campaigns. Omnisend segments those recommendations per recipient, so high-value customers see premium products while entry-level buyers see relevant alternatives.
Klaviyo's predictive analytics allow you to anticipate customer behavior, including predicting lifetime value and churn risk, letting you build flows that act before a customer disengages rather than after.
Personalization also applies to your abandoned cart strategy. With personalization, you can improve open rates by 26% simply by making the subject line more personalized, such as by mentioning the recipient's name. Personalized product offers and calls to action increase click-through rates by 41%.
Measuring BigCommerce Email Marketing Performance
Ecommerce email benchmarks to compare against: average open rate sits around 25 to 35% for B2C and 15 to 25% for B2B. A healthy click-through rate sits between 2 and 5%, and unsubscribe rates under 0.5% show your content is hitting the right notes. Most brands average $0.10 to $0.25 in revenue per email, but targeted sends like abandoned cart or product recommendation emails can easily outperform that.
Track these metrics at the flow level, not just the campaign level. Email drives 33.7% of total store revenue across high-performing portfolios, versus the industry average of roughly 27%. The gap between average and high-performing programs is almost entirely explained by automation coverage and segmentation depth.
Key metrics to monitor:
Open rate: A signal of subject line quality and sender reputation
Click-through rate (CTR): Indicates content relevance and CTA effectiveness
Revenue per recipient (RPR): The most direct measure of campaign impact
Conversion rate by flow: Identifies which automations are underperforming
Unsubscribe rate: Flags relevance problems before they become deliverability problems
Deliverability Foundations for BigCommerce Merchants
High deliverability is a prerequisite for any strategy to work. Using a free domain email address such as Gmail or Yahoo is bad practice. Those addresses are for personal use. Most internet service providers will automatically mark your emails as spam. An official email address helps with credibility to both subscribers and spam filters. It is also crucial for building a good sending reputation for your domain.
If you use BigCommerce with Klaviyo or Omnisend, check that your email tool integrates authentication automatically. Most major platforms do. Authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) tell receiving servers that your emails are legitimate, protecting both deliverability and brand reputation.
Beyond authentication, list hygiene matters. Sending to disengaged subscribers harms your sender score. Segment out contacts with no opens in 90 to 180 days and run a re-engagement sequence before removing them from your active list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does BigCommerce have built-in email marketing?
BigCommerce does not offer built-in email marketing capabilities. The platform offers integration with numerous third-party email marketing platforms, including Omnisend, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and ActiveCampaign.
Which email marketing platform is best for BigCommerce?
The best option depends on your goals and store size. Klaviyo is best for advanced segmentation, personalization, and deep integration, ideal if you want automations that adapt to customer behavior. Omnisend is great for omnichannel marketing, connecting email, SMS, and social. ActiveCampaign is excellent for automation and CRM features. Mailchimp is a simpler, accessible starting point for small businesses.
What is a good open rate for BigCommerce email campaigns?
Expect open rates around 25 to 35% for B2C and 15 to 25% for B2B. Personalized or automated emails, like welcome or post-purchase messages, tend to perform even better.
How do abandoned cart emails work with BigCommerce?
Klaviyo's built-in BigCommerce integration tracks a Started Checkout event when a customer enters their email during the checkout process after adding items to their cart. The abandoned cart email is sent to anyone who starts checkout but does not place an order. A flow filter checks before any email is sent, ensuring customers stop receiving the abandoned cart email as soon as they complete the checkout. Omnisend works similarly with its native BigCommerce connection, triggering cart sequences within minutes of abandonment.
How much revenue can BigCommerce email marketing generate?
Omnisend merchants report generating $68 for every dollar spent on email marketing. Results vary by list size, automation coverage, and segmentation quality, but even average performance at $36 per dollar spent makes email the highest-ROI channel for most ecommerce businesses.
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If you use BigCommerce with Klaviyo or Omnisend, check that your email tool integrates authentication automatically. Most major platforms do. Authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) tell receiving servers that your emails are legitimate, protecting both deliverability and brand reputation.
Beyond authentication, list hygiene matters. Sending to disengaged subscribers harms your sender score. Segment out contacts with no opens in 90 to 180 days and run a re-engagement sequence before removing them from your active list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does BigCommerce have built-in email marketing?
BigCommerce does not offer built-in email marketing capabilities. The platform offers integration with numerous third-party email marketing platforms, including Omnisend, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and ActiveCampaign.
Which email marketing platform is best for BigCommerce?
The best option depends on your goals and store size. Klaviyo is best for advanced segmentation, personalization, and deep integration, ideal if you want automations that adapt to customer behavior. Omnisend is great for omnichannel marketing, connecting email, SMS, and social. ActiveCampaign is excellent for automation and CRM features. Mailchimp is a simpler, accessible starting point for small businesses.
What is a good open rate for BigCommerce email campaigns?
Expect open rates around 25 to 35% for B2C and 15 to 25% for B2B. Personalized or automated emails, like welcome or post-purchase messages, tend to perform even better.
How do abandoned cart emails work with BigCommerce?
Klaviyo's built-in BigCommerce integration tracks a Started Checkout event when a customer enters their email during the checkout process after adding items to their cart. The abandoned cart email is sent to anyone who starts checkout but does not place an order. A flow filter checks before any email is sent, ensuring customers stop receiving the abandoned cart email as soon as they complete the checkout. Omnisend works similarly with its native BigCommerce connection, triggering cart sequences within minutes of abandonment.
How much revenue can BigCommerce email marketing generate?
Omnisend merchants report generating $68 for every dollar spent on email marketing. Results vary by list size, automation coverage, and segmentation quality, but even average performance at $36 per dollar spent makes email the highest-ROI channel for most ecommerce businesses.
