Shopify email & SMS marketing app complaints: what 411 bad reviews say
411 one- and two-star Shopify App Store reviews with text (348 one-star) of the 16 most-reviewed apps in the Email & SMS marketing category, posted 26 Oct 2025 – 25 Oct 2026.
What merchants complain about in Shopify email & SMS marketing apps
| Complaint | Share | Reviews | All apps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bugs & broke the store | 18.5% | 76 | 17.9% |
| Slow or no support | 17.5% | 72 | 31.2% |
| Hard to use or set up | 11.9% | 49 | 9.1% |
| Charges & refunds | 8.5% | 35 | 13.9% |
| Called it a scam or misleading | 5.4% | 22 | 5.8% |
| Export, import & migration pain | 4.9% | 20 | 6.4% |
| Too expensive for what it does | 3.6% | 15 | 4.7% |
| Slow store & app speed | 3.2% | 13 | 2.7% |
| Sync, orders & inventory errors | 1.9% | 8 | 6.5% |
| Missing features & limits | 1.7% | 7 | 3.1% |
| Price increases & plan changes | 1% | 4 | 0.7% |
| Charged after uninstalling/cancelling | 0.7% | 3 | 1.4% |
A review can match several themes; 47.9% match none. “All apps” = 2,418 low-star reviews of 192 apps in 12 categories.
What is different about this category
They mention sync, orders & inventory errors (1.9% vs 6.5%) and charged after uninstalling/cancelling (0.7% vs 1.4%) less often than average.
Shopify email & SMS marketing apps by number of bad reviews
| App | 1–2★ | Top complaint (5+ reviews) | Replied |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Flow | 142 | Hard to use or set up 22.5% | 6.3% |
| Orderly Emails | 82 | Bugs & broke the store 25.6% | 6.1% |
| Klaviyo | 51 | Slow or no support 37.3% | 92.2% |
| Omnisend | 35 | Slow or no support 48.6% | 85.7% |
| Shopify Messaging | 31 | Bugs & broke the store 22.6% | 0% |
| Shopify Forms | 16 | Slow or no support 12.5% | 0% |
| CWILL Popup Email Marketing | 15 | Bugs & broke the store 20% | 86.7% |
| Mailchimp Email SMS Marketing | 10 | Slow or no support 30% | 70% |
| Pop Convert | 10 | Slow or no support 40% | 70% |
| Wishlist Hero | 6 | Slow or no support 33.3% | 33.3% |
| Grid & Pixel Email‑SMS‑Popups | 4 | – | 75% |
| Postscript SMS Marketing | 4 | – | 0% |
| Seguno Email Marketing | 3 | – | 100% |
| 1CP | 1 | – | 100% |
| Poptin Email Marketing, Pop Up | 1 | – | 0% |
| Wiz AI Email Marketing | 0 | – | – |
In merchants’ words
“… UPDATE: Issue NOT fixed + New targeting bugs found The developer replied claiming this security flaw was fixed.”
Shopify App Store review, Oct 2026
“… Would not recommend to Australian businesses as their support is terrible.”
Shopify App Store review, Sep 2026
“I had a difficult time in trying to get questions answered so that I could decide if this app is for me.”
Shopify App Store review, Aug 2026
“Be careful, they're going to charge by volume. I'm totally disappointed with this app,…”
Shopify App Store review, Sep 2026
“… We installed it, connected our domain and DNS records, and imported about 100 contacts—all of whom had opted in through our Shopify store.”
Shopify App Store review, Sep 2026
Do Shopify email & SMS marketing developers reply to bad reviews?
30.9% of these low-star reviews got a reply from the developer, median 1 day after the review (all apps: 43.9%, median 2 days).
Time on the app before the bad review
| Time used | Reviews | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 day | 26 | 6.3% |
| 1–7 days | 21 | 5.1% |
| 8–30 days | 22 | 5.4% |
| 1–12 months | 118 | 28.7% |
| Over 1 year | 224 | 54.5% |
What to fix first (our reading of the data)
- Bugs & broke the store (18.5% of reviews): Ship a fix note in the reply to every bug review, and test on a fresh dev store with the most common theme before each release.
- Slow or no support (17.5% of reviews): Answer support within one business day and say so in the listing; most of these reviews are written after a ticket went unanswered.
- Hard to use or set up (11.9% of reviews): Add a guided setup and a working default so the app does something useful in the first session.
This analysis for your email & SMS marketing category, with the top 10 apps
AppGap reads the recent 1–3★ merchant reviews of the top ~10 apps in your Shopify App Store category and ranks the complaints they share, with real quotes. One PDF by email within 24–48 h.
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Other categories: Marketplaces · Dropshipping · Product reviews · Upsell & bundles · Translation & currency · Subscriptions · Shipping · Product options & variants · SEO & speed · Helpdesk & chat · Loyalty & rewards
Data and method: Shopify review study (192 apps, CC BY 4.0 CSV) · Shopify app bad reviews: what to fix first · All categories
FAQ
What do merchants complain about most in Shopify email & SMS marketing apps?
In 411 one- and two-star Shopify App Store reviews of 16 Shopify email & SMS marketing apps (Oct 2025 – Oct 2026), the top complaints were bugs & broke the store (18.5%), slow or no support (17.5%), hard to use or set up (11.9%).
Do Shopify email & SMS marketing app developers reply to bad reviews?
30.9% of these low-star reviews got a reply from the developer, median 1 day after the review (all apps: 43.9%, median 2 days).
Which Shopify email & SMS marketing app had the most bad reviews?
Shopify Flow, with 142 one- and two-star reviews in the 12 months to Oct 2026.
How soon do merchants leave a bad review on a email & SMS marketing app?
11.4% of the low-star reviews were written within the first week of use and 54.5% after a year or more.