Artisanal Solutions / Guides / Best Email Marketing for Food Brands

Guide

The best email marketing platform for small food brands

What food makers and farms use to send a weekly newsletter, sell out a harvest and recover abandoned carts, and which tool fits how you sell.

Get a plan and a priceSee the picks

Updated November 2026 by the Madeline's team, who set these tools up for makers and farms.

Email platforms compared
5In view
5On track
3Needs you
PlatformBest forStore dataSMS
Klaviyo Shopify stores Deep Yes
Mailchimp In-person sellers Basic Add-on
Omnisend Lighter e-commerce Good Yes
Flodesk Design-led newsletters Minimal No
Shopify Email Basics inside Shopify Native No
Features change; check each vendor before you buy.

The short answer

Klaviyo is the best fit for food brands selling online on Shopify: it sees orders and carts and runs the automatic emails that pay for themselves. Mailchimp is simpler and fits farms and makers who mostly sell in person and want a newsletter. Omnisend is a lighter e-commerce alternative to Klaviyo. Flodesk suits design-led newsletters. Shopify Email covers the basics inside Shopify.

The picks

  1. Klaviyo

    Best for Shopify stores

    Email and SMS built for online stores. It uses orders, browsing and cart data to send welcome, abandoned cart, back-in-stock and review request emails automatically.

    Good fit if
    • You sell online on Shopify
    • You want automatic flows, not just newsletters
    Watch for
    • Pricing rises with list size
    • More than a newsletter-only farm needs

  2. Mailchimp

    Best for in-person sellers

    A familiar, simple email tool with a free plan for small lists, good for a weekly harvest or market newsletter.

    Good fit if
    • Most of your sales happen at market or the farm
    • You want a simple weekly newsletter
    Watch for
    • E-commerce automations are lighter than Klaviyo

  3. Omnisend

    Best for lighter e-commerce

    E-commerce email and SMS with Shopify data and prebuilt automations, usually simpler to run than Klaviyo.

    Good fit if
    • You want e-commerce flows with less setup
    Watch for
    • Fewer advanced segments than Klaviyo

  4. Flodesk

    Best for design-led newsletters

    An email tool focused on good-looking templates and simple sending.

    Good fit if
    • Your newsletter is the main thing you send
    Watch for
    • Little store data and no SMS

  5. Shopify Email

    Best for basics inside Shopify

    Email built into Shopify admin, using your products and customers without another login.

    Good fit if
    • You send a few campaigns a month
    Watch for
    • Limited automation compared with Klaviyo

Want one of these set up for you?

Tell us what you make. We send back a short plan and a price.

Get a plan and a price

How it works

  1. Tell us what you make

    What you make and what you use now. A spreadsheet and a Square account is a fine answer.

  2. Get a short plan

    Keep this, replace that, connect these, and the cost.

  3. We set it up

    Setup and migration done for you. You approve before anything goes live.

  4. Run it or hand it off

    Take it from there yourself or keep us on for the upkeep.

Questions

Klaviyo or Mailchimp for a food business?

Klaviyo if you sell online on Shopify and want automatic emails; Mailchimp if you mostly sell in person and want a simple newsletter.

How often should a food brand send email?

As often as there is something real to say and you can keep it up. Weekly in season works for most farms; every two to four weeks is fine for a steady product line.

Which automatic emails matter most?

Welcome, abandoned cart and back in stock usually bring in the most, followed by a review request after delivery.

Get a plan and a price

Tell us what you make and what you use today. A spreadsheet and a Square account is a fine answer. We reply by email with what we would keep, what we would change and what it costs.

The newsletter for artisans, makers and farmers

Tools worth using, shipping and labeling how-tos, and what is working for other small producers. Email only, unsubscribe any time.

Related

All solutions