Why it matters

Email marketing is a vital aspect of ecommerce business, playing a role in everything from generating sales leads to running promotions, and then some. And when it comes to putting together email lists for targeted marketing campaigns, MailChimp is a useful tool for email marketers, which is why it has nearly 15 million registered users. It is the only available major email marketing tool that offers a free plan with no trial period, allowing you to use their service indefinitely (at least for now).

How to use it

Ecommerce businesses and online stores can use MailChimp’s no-cost automation tools to create any number of marketing emails to build funnels that convert leads into sales. Their software can also be used to craft automated follow-up emails to reconnect with potential customers who abandoned their shopping cart. Further, you can build email lists with segments. MailChimp's free plan lets you manage an email list of up to 2,000 subscribers before you have to upgrade to paid mode.

Why it matters

Running an ecommerce business means dealing with numerous piles of data including research, funnels, metrics, logs, and databases. It's crucial to have an adequate system in place to keep everything organized properly. HubSpot CRM (customer relationship management) is a free all-in-one platform that lets you manage your ecommerce business' marketing and sales processes in one dashboard, all with a forever free plan.

How to use it

HubSpot CRM has the capability to oversee all things related to the sales process, including funnels, allowing you to access information about leads, track interactions with prospects and customers, and create and send personalized emails. Its free-of-charge marketing/sales hub software can also help manage pipelines, draft automated outreach emails, follow up with prospects, track existing customers, and close sales.

Why it matters

Ecommerce businesses should constantly work to improve their online web stores by testing new tactics and strategies to fine-tune their marketing efforts. Conventionally, this means running painstaking A/B tests to determine things like which website layouts create a great user experience and which colors and text psychologically encourages customers to click you all to action buttons.

How to use it

Nelio AB Testing, a powerful WordPress plugin with a free trial, allows ecommerce websites to run a number of A/B tests to optimize their site, product pages, blog posts, and specific themes. In addition to those testing tools, Nelio AB also offers a useful heatmaps feature that points out areas of your site that need improvement by monitoring visitors' behavior.

Why it matters

As ecommerce businesses grow, websites often need to be redesigned to provide a better user experience. While significant overhauls are best left up to the pros, if you use Wordpress and only require minor tweaks, you can use a plugins like Elementor to customize page layouts without having any coding or web design knowledge.

How to use it

An open-source page-building plugin with a live editor, Elementor lets ecommerce site owners do basic design changes with a simple drag-and-drop method. It also supports popular ecommerce plugins like WooCommerce, allowing you to design better product pages, too.

Conclusion

Owning, managing and growing an ecommerce business may require serious work, but these helpful tools can help you to achieve your business objects with much less effort, until your business outgrows them requiring something more powerful.