# Shopify email & SMS marketing app complaints: what 411 bad reviews say > 411 one- and two-star Shopify App Store reviews of 16 Shopify email & SMS marketing apps: top complaints, reply rates, worst-hit apps and quotes. Canonical: https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/email-sms-marketing/ Language: en Last updated: 2026-10-25 411 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. **18.5%**Bugs & broke the store **30.9%**got a developer reply (all apps: 43.9%) **11.4%**written within the first week of use ## 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](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-bad-reviews/flow/) | 142 | Hard to use or set up 22.5% | 6.3% | | [Orderly Emails](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-bad-reviews/email-templates/) | 82 | Bugs & broke the store 25.6% | 6.1% | | [Klaviyo](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-bad-reviews/klaviyo-email-marketing/) | 51 | Slow or no support 37.3% | 92.2% | | [Omnisend](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-bad-reviews/omnisend/) | 35 | Slow or no support 48.6% | 85.7% | | [Shopify Messaging](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-bad-reviews/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) 1. **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. 2. **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. 3. **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. [Sample PDF](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/sample-product-reviews.pdf) · [AppGap](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/) €19 ~~€39~~ one-off, launch price until 30 Nov 2026 or the first 20 orders. Full refund if we can’t produce a useful report. Other categories: [Marketplaces](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/marketplaces/) · [Dropshipping](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/dropshipping/) · [Product reviews](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/product-reviews/) · [Upsell & bundles](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/upsell-bundles/) · [Translation & currency](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/translation-currency/) · [Subscriptions](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/subscriptions/) · [Shipping](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/shipping/) · [Product options & variants](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/product-options-variants/) · [SEO & speed](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/seo-speed/) · [Helpdesk & chat](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/helpdesk-chat/) · [Loyalty & rewards](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/loyalty-rewards/) Data and method: [Shopify review study](https://revunda.xyz/apps/research/shopify-app-review-complaints-2026/) (192 apps, CC BY 4.0 CSV) · [Shopify app bad reviews: what to fix first](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-bad-reviews/) · [All categories](https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/) ## 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. --- Source: Revunda (https://revunda.xyz). Markdown copy of https://revunda.xyz/shopify/app-complaints/email-sms-marketing/ for AI assistants; the HTML page is canonical.