You run a Shopify store, so it makes sense to use the Shopify Email app, right?
Wrong.
Give me five minutes and read through this side-by-side comparison. You might come to the conclusion that tinyAlbert delivers much better value all around. If I'm right, those five minutes could help you avoid hours and hours of work unnecessary email marketing work down the road. That's a solid risk-to-read ratio, I'd say.
Here's my analysis. I present the facts as accurately as I can (if I get any facts wrong, let me know) regarding content usability, features, automations, and pricing.
App usability
Usability includes all the variables that make or break a user's experience and their ability to get email marketing out the door with minimal fuss. Based on the data in the table below, here's what I found.
Install the tinyAlbert app, and in a few minutes, your AI-powered marketing assistant will help you set up automations, write and schedule campaigns, and display a lead generation form on your Shopify store.
tinyAlbert has a higher customer rating than the Shopify Email app. The Shopify Email app is easy to install, but some users found it buggy. Many people reported a less-than-wonderful customer support experience.
tinyAlbert gets two thumbs up for satisfaction thanks to an easy-to-navigate UI, a short learning curve, and responsive customer support. Both options have good reporting dashboards.
Variable | Shopify Email | tinyAlbert |
Trustpilot score * | na | 4.5 |
Shopify App Store score * | 3.9 | 4.8 |
Reporting & Analytics | Basic tools | Essential tools |
Ease of Use | Easy to install and navigate. The app quickly integrates with the store. Some reports of buggy software | Short learning curve, thanks to a minimalist UI, ensures quick onboarding. Users spend more time crafting campaigns and less time mastering tools. |
Customer support | Customer reviews highlight support as an area that could be improved. | Available to users with free and paid plans. 24/7 chat, email, and |
* Scores checked on August 11, 2023.
App features
The range of available features is far greater than I could possibly document here, so let me cover a few points: templates, AI subject line generation, and lead generation forms.
Templates
The Shopify Email campaign page has 40+ templates ready to explore.
Some of the templates are way, way out of date. I'm writing this article in August, and the list includes Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Spring promos.
The templates contain very little brand-specific content, and each campaign needs to be scheduled manually.
The power of AI doesn't really jump out here. These templates contain static (or fixed) text, which can only be changed manually inside the editor. Where's the AI magic?
After opening the tinyAlbert campaign page, it's clear this app is built for speed.
Each upcoming weekly campaign is already created, scheduled, and ready to go. The campaign blast dates are built in, which is a real time-saver. No need to fuss with scheduling.
The AI automatically designs the content with seasonally appropriate themes. Remember, I'm writing this article in August, so the page displays end-of-summer, back-to-school, and Halloween themes which are all spot-on for this time of year.
Features | Shopify Email | tinyAlbert |
Email templates | Y | Y |
Template customization with drag-and-drop content blocks | Y | Y |
Auto-scheduled campaigns | N | Y |
Lead generation forms | N | Y |
Support available by email and chat | Y | Y |
Subject line auto-suggestion | N | Y |
AI subject line generation
Every subject line for every Shopify Email campaign needs to be generated by the user.
The AI doesn't auto-fill the subject line with a suggestion. To bring AI into the mix, the user has to open the editor and click a purple icon. Inside the Generate subject line popup, there's a window with a few default prompt words, but in my test runs, they're all pretty bland, and none of them are brand-related.
Users can change the tone of voice and input their own custom prompt words into the field, but here's the thing - you need to repeat this step for every subject line for every campaign. Secretly, I'm thinking to myself, is this AI-lite?
tinyAlbert auto-generates a subject line for every campaign message. Even better, you can see the subject line in the Preview panel (which means you don't have to leave the campaign page and open the editor as you do with the Shopify Email app).
To auto-generate a new subject line, just click the Regenerate button. Unfortunately, the AI changes the entire message, including the subject line. Like Shopify Email, tinyAlbert gives users the chance to manually input or edit the subject line.
One big plus is that users don't have to input custom prompt words or set the tone of voice for each subject line. tinyAlbert users input all that background and branding information one time when they tune the AI. Click here to learn more about tuning the AI.
Lead generation forms
Shopify Email does not have lead generation forms. For email marketers who see value in list building, this is a considerable disadvantage.
tinyAlbert has forms that are great for list-building. All the form information is pulled into a separate audience. tinyAlbert has three form styles (embedded, popup, and flyout) with dozens of template options and the chance to create custom forms.
AI automations
Both apps have automations that cover four essential e-commerce needs: abandoned cart, win-back, welcome series, and thank you for purchase.
Shopify has 12 ready-to-go automations with an option to create custom flows.
tinyAlbert has six automations and 12 more in the pipeline. Users can customize each automation with a drag-and-drop editor.
Email automations | Shopify Email | tinyAlbert |
Abandoned cart | Y | Y |
Requires third-party apps | Y | N |
Abandoned product browse | Y | coming soon |
Customer win-back | Y | Y |
Request a product review | Y | Y |
Post-purchase thank you | Y | Y |
Welcome email series (with discount) | Y | Y |
Welcome new subscriber | Y | Y |
Here's one feature that kind of bugs me. Some Shopify Email automations require store owners to sign up for a third-party app. These apps are based on the freemium model, which means some features are free, and others (usually the good ones) require payment to send the automation. The required app appears as an icon on the Automations main page.
App pricing
The Shopify Email app has the lowest cost to send. That's great news for small store owners or anyone on a budget. But is that good value?
The Shopify Email list only includes people who subscribe to the store or made a purchase. It doesn't help you build a list of prospects, which is why store owners seek out other products, like the tinyAlbert app. Shopify Email fees are based on the number of sends and not the number of contacts. Charges apply when the number of sends in a month exceeds 10,000.
tinyAlbert calculates costs based on list size with no limits on sends (within reason, of course - we're always on guard for spamming). That's good value for store owners who want to maximize customer engagement.
Shopify Email | Contacts | tinyAlbert * |
$0 | 500 | $10 (unlimited sends) |
$20 (30,000 sends) | 2501 | $48 (unlimited sends) |
$45 (55,000 sends) | 5001 | $93 (unlimited sends) |
$95 (105,000 sends) | 10,001 | $165 (unlimited sends) |
$95 (260,000 sends) | 25,001 | $369 (unlimited sends) |
$676 (1,050,000 sends) | 100,001 | $1,315 (unlimited sends) |
* tinyAlbert fees are monthly subscription fees based on the number of contacts and not the number of sends.
The bottom line
I'm a big fan of Shopify, so I understand why the Shopify Email app might look good to people new to email marketing, but sometimes you have to measure price against value.
For me, there are three deal breakers when it comes to choosing an AI email marketing app. The first one is list building. Email marketers buy third-party apps like tinyAlbert because they know there's value in building a separate list of prospects outside their Shopify store's contact list.
The second one is branding. tinyAlbert auto-generates on-brand campaign messages by pulling in images from your store and generating copy based on your company/product descriptions in the AI tuning section. Shopify store owners can manually add their branding copy to generic templates, which means AI isn't really creating value.
The final deal breaker is speed. How much time do you really want to spend on generating campaigns and automations?
Shopify Email has a clean UI, but IMHO, the content generation process for campaigns is underwhelming. The user has very few decisions on the campaign page. It's almost like I'm trapped in a workflow of binary decisions. I have to commit to one template and then open the editor and then make changes, and then schedule a launch. The AI advantage isn't really apparent until you get to the subject line, and even then, the process feels unnecessarily repetitive.
In contrast, tinyAlbert is built for email marketers who want to activate four weeks of campaign messages before they finish their first cup of morning coffee. On the campaign page, tinyAlbert leverages AI to produce more options faster, and the intuitive UI helps marketers review and test messages with a few clicks - without leaving the page.
Hands down. tinyAlbert delivers greater value.