OMNISEND RESEARCH

Inside the TOP 10% of ecommerce marketing agencies

Ecommerce brands can absolutely run their own marketing. But at some point, growth tends to slow, and that’s usually when agencies come in as an extension of their team, bringing a fresh perspective.

On average, brands that worked with agencies in 2025 saw up to 18% higher ROI with Omnisend. So we looked at 717 agencies managing 2,990 brands to understand the mindset behind our top-performing agencies.

Key findings

What strong agency
performance looks like

Top-performing agencies stand out in how efficiently they turn audiences into revenue.

On average, they generate $170,000 per client annually and $16.70 per subscriber, pointing to strong monetization of existing audiences, not just growth.

Email automation plays a key role, on average contributing 45% of total email revenue and delivering significantly higher returns per message ($5.96 vs $0.67 for campaigns). Top-performing agencies clearly recognize that behavior-based messaging is a core part of how revenue is built.

Performance also reflects what happens after the first purchase. With an average order value of $44, these agencies appear to capture more value through retention and post-purchase strategies.

Key takeaway: best results come from combining automation, campaigns, and ongoing optimization, rather than relying on a single tactic.

Expert insight

“What stands out in the data is how much more value the top agencies create from every subscriber. Much of that difference comes down to execution — launching automations faster, running more campaigns, and continuously optimizing performance.”

Marty Bauer

Director of Agency Partnerships and Ecommerce Expert at Omnisend

Where additional revenue
comes from

Top-performing agencies rely on a combination of practices that are consistently linked with stronger results.

Some of the biggest differences come from channel mix. Agencies that use SMS generate 202% more revenue on average than those that don’t, making it one of the most impactful additions.

A similar pattern appears with A/B testing. Agencies that test regularly see 192% higher revenue on average, underscoring the importance of continuous optimization.

Automation contributes in a different way. Agencies that rely more heavily on automations — where workflows make up a larger share of revenue (20% or more) — see a more modest uplift (up to 6%). This suggests that most agencies already use automation to some extent. The difference comes from how deeply they are built and optimized over time, rather than simply having them in place.

Segmentation adds incremental gains. More targeted campaigns are associated with up to 8% higher revenue on average.

Key takeaway: Small, consistent improvements compound into big results.

Expert insight

“What separates top agencies isn’t one big decision, but a compounding effect of small ones. Adding a channel, running tests, improving workflows, and focusing on speed — over time, those add up to much stronger results.”

Marty Bauer

Director of Agency Partnerships and Ecommerce Expert at Omnisend

How top agencies operate

Top-performing agencies follow a consistent way of working — not just in what they do, but how quickly and how often they do it.

They run around 5.3 active automations per client, building lifecycle coverage across key customer moments rather than relying on a few core workflows.

Campaign activity is steady as well, with 5.4 campaigns sent every month for every client on average, reflecting a more consistent approach to communication.

Speed plays a role early on. Top agencies launch their first automation within 8 days of onboarding, moving quickly from setup to execution and capturing revenue sooner.

Over time, this translates into longer client relationships, with an average lifespan of 1020 days, pointing to more stable, long-term performance.

Key takeaway: Strong results are supported by consistent activity, faster execution, and a more complete lifecycle setup.

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Methodology

This report analyzes anonymized performance data taken in 2025 from 717 marketing agencies managing 2,990 ecommerce brands on Omnisend. The dataset includes campaign, automation, and revenue performance across email and SMS marketing activity.

To identify best-in-class performance, agencies were ranked based on revenue generated per subscriber, allowing results to be compared independently of brand size. Agencies in the top 10% of this metric were classified as top-performing agencies, forming the benchmark used throughout the report.

The analysis focuses on how these top-performing agencies drive results, examining both revenue outcomes and key lifecycle marketing practices such as campaign activity, automation usage, testing, and channel adoption.

To highlight growth opportunities, the report uses a revenue potential metric, which compares the performance of brands managed by agencies that adopt a given practice (such as SMS, automation, or A/B testing) with those that do not. The resulting percentage reflects the observed difference in revenue between these groups.

To ensure accuracy, extreme outliers were removed before calculating benchmarks. All data used in the analysis was aggregated and anonymized, and no individual brand or agency can be identified.

The findings provide a benchmark view of what top-performing agencies achieve and how they approach lifecycle marketing.

For broader benchmarks across all ecommerce brands using Omnisend – not only those managed by agencies – see the full platform statistics here.

Omnisend

Email and SMS marketing so good, it’s boring

Omnisend is a leading email and SMS marketing platform, trusted by over 150,000+ brands worldwide and with a 4.7-star rating from more than 6,000 Shopify reviews. With powerful tools like automation, segmentation, reporting, push notifications, and product reviews, Omnisend merchants generate $79 for every $1 spent.