This is a guest post by BusinessPOP.

Email is the most rewarding digital marketing channel there is, according to an Oberlo report, offering a staggering $42 return for every $1 invested. It’s why email marketing platforms like Mailchimp are in high demand: They allow marketers to automate many key email marketing tasks, save time, and make it easier to build relationships with customers long-term. 

Omnisend is a (relatively) new, up-and-coming email marketing platform. It has similar features to Mailchimp and is rapidly becoming one of the biggest names in the email marketing business. Furthermore, going by a MartechSeries report, it’s also now one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies (always a good indicator of a product’s popularity). If you’re in the market for email marketing software, Omnisend will likely be near the top of your list. 

Here, Penguin E-Commerce offers an introduction to Omnisend, covering the platform’s biggest strengths and helping you decide whether it’s suitable for your e-commerce or other business types: 

What is Omnisend? 

Omnisend is an email marketing automation platform, as mentioned above. You can use it to create, share, and manage email marketing campaigns across a variety of channels – the most important ones being email and SMS. It comes with pre-built templates to speed up copywriting and related tasks. You can control and manage campaigns – and the app’s various features – from a single unified dashboard.  

What’s unique about it? 

While not a unique feature, Omnisend prides itself on simplifying omnichannel marketing, which is all about meeting the customer at the medium they’re using currently. Compared to other similar marketing platforms, Omnisend does a couple of things differently: 

• SMS-based identity: You can save and interact with customers solely via their phone numbers. You don’t need to include email addresses. 
• Easy automation: You can create customer journeys in response to various events to drive up conversions. It’s all handled by the software once you put in the instructions. 

How does Omnisend improve my e-commerce store? 

Omnisend allows you to create marketing campaigns, automate them, and measure their impact. The result is more impactful, streamlined marketing programs that convert better. You can measure key marketing metrics like first purchase conversion, average order value, lifetime value, and repeat purchase conversion. The Fool explains why these metrics are important for your business. 

This information is available in real time when campaigns are ongoing. You can make changes to your strategy on-the-fly for better results in response. Besides helping you to refine your marketing, you can use this information to improve your e-store, gain a better understanding of your customers, and, thereby, improve your offerings.

One of the biggest advantages this tool offers is the automation of workflows.  You can, for instance, send different welcome emails in response to different sign-up forms, give customers an incentive to pick up abandoned carts with relevant offers, and send birthday emails with personalized offers. A full list of features is available on their website and is worth checking out. 

How long does it take to set up Omnisend?

Like with all email marketing automation platforms, it can take several days to set up a new platform (longer if you’re migrating from another platform). Some key tasks that you will handle to get your platform ready are getting an email account for your business set up, setting up trigger event sequences, creating dynamic discounts, writing ad copy, creating a marketing strategy, and more. After the initial setup, you can expect to spend at least a couple of hours every week (at the very least) managing the service and refining your campaigns. 

You can get in touch with Penguin E-Commerce if you’d like help with setting up your Omnisend account and connecting it to your e-store. We make the process fast and painless. We also offer a range of useful marketing services. 

How much do I have to pay for Omnisend? 

You can use the basic version of Omnisend for free. This is a good place to begin if you’re on the fence about it and would like to try out its various features first-hand. The standard version of the service costs $16 per month and comes with customer care support. The pro version for heavy-duty users costs $59 per month and comes with more in-depth data analytics. 

Conclusion 

Omnisend is a decent alternative to Mailchimp or Constant Contact, with several useful features, a user-friendly interface, and helpful tutorials and documentation available online. It would be a good product for almost any e-commerce store looking to create better, more streamlined marketing campaigns and is worth trying out.