Email marketing with Shopify Messaging (formerly Shopify Email)

Before you start

Shopify Messaging, formerly Shopify Email, lets you create and send email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing campaigns from your Shopify admin, plus marketing automations¹. This guide covers one email campaign.

• Plan. Shopify Messaging is available on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans¹. Your store must be on an active, paid plan, have the Online Store sales channel and have a payment provider set up⁵. On a free trial or the Pause and Build plan, you can build campaigns and send tests to yourself, but not send to subscribers⁵.
• Network Intelligence. Shopify Network Intelligence must be turned on in your privacy settings¹.
• Cost. All stores on these plans get 10,000 free emails at the start of each month. After that, it costs $1 USD per 1,000 emails up to 300,000, then less at higher volumes⁴. Abandoned checkout automations are free and don't count toward the limit⁴. Extra charges appear on your next Shopify invoice as Marketing emails⁴.
• Consent. Send promotional email only to customers who agreed to receive marketing from your store. Buying an email list is prohibited by Shopify's Terms of Service⁶.

Worked example: a candle shop selling 40 products in the US and Canada sends a fall launch email to everyone who subscribed.

Steps

1. Set your sender address. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications. In the Sender email section, enter your email address and click Save². Avoid addresses with "no-reply", "do-not-reply" or "noreply"².
2. Authenticate your domain. In the Sender email section, click authenticate your domain and add every CNAME record shown at your domain provider. Changes can take up to 48 hours². If your domain is with Cloudflare, GoDaddy or IONOS, you can click Authenticate automatically instead².
3. Add a DMARC record. At your domain provider, add a TXT record with the host _dmarc and the value v=DMARC1; p=none;. Your domain can have only one DMARC record². Automatic authentication doesn't add this for you².
4. Open the app. Shopify Messaging is installed by default⁷. Go to Apps > Messaging³. If it is missing, install it from its Shopify App Store page with Add app and Install app⁷.
5. Set a spending alert. In the app, click Settings. In Monthly spending alert, click Add threshold, enter an amount and click Save⁷. The alert emails the account owner but doesn't stop billing⁷.
6. Start a campaign. Go to Apps > Messaging, click Create campaign, then select an email template³.
7. Choose who gets it. In the To field, click the segment drop-down menu and choose All email subscribers or a customer segment³. The candle shop picks All email subscribers.
8. Write the subject and preview text. Enter a subject line. Optionally, enter preview text, which shows after the subject in the inbox³.
9. Edit the content. Click a section to edit it. To add a section, hover where you want it and click +. To remove one, click it and then the trash can icon³. Shopify doesn't check spelling, so proofread³.
10. Send a test. Click Send test, enter up to five email addresses one at a time, then click Send³. Open the test on your phone and computer.
11. Review and send or schedule. Click Review, then Schedule send. Select the suggested time and click Schedule, select Now and click Send, or select Custom date and time, set the date and time and click Schedule³. An estimate of the cost appears before you send³.

Check your work

• In Settings > Notifications, your sender address shows as your own domain, not store+123@shopifyemail.com².
• Your test email arrived and every link opens the right page³.
• In Customers, the Email subscribers segment has the number of people you expected to reach⁶.

Common problems

• "My emails come from a shopifyemail.com address." Your domain isn't authenticated, so Shopify rewrites the sender to store+123@shopifyemail.com. Add the CNAME and DMARC records². Removing the CNAME records later resets the sender the same way².
• "The app says fewer people than my customer list." Shopify Messaging only emails customers who accepted marketing, so the count can differ from the Customers page⁶.
• "My campaign went to fewer subscribers than I expected." Smart delivery is on by default and sends only to engaged subscribers. Find it under Apps > Messaging > Settings, in the Delivery section⁸. Turning it off can raise bounces, spam complaints and costs⁸.
• "My scheduled email went back to draft." If a segment has 0 subscribers when the email is due to send, it reverts to a draft³.
• "I can't send to my list." You can't send to subscribers on a free trial or the Pause and Build plan⁵.
• "I need to stop a scheduled email." Open the campaign, click Edit send date, then Remove send date³.
• "I want to attach a PDF." Attachments aren't supported. Upload the file to your store and link to it³.

Further reading

• Create email marketing campaigns using Shopify Messaging³
• Shopify Messaging email pricing⁴