How Top Ecommerce Agencies Perform
Omnisend’s email and SMS platform powers ecommerce brands worldwide. Many of them partner with agencies to drive growth and performance.
A new analysis by Omnisend of 717 agencies managing 2,990 brands reveals what the top 10% do differently: the strategies and benchmarks that set the highest-performing agencies apart.
Revenue Results
Top-performing agencies average $170,000 annual revenue per client, significantly higher than their peers, and an impressive $16.70 revenue per subscriber, a metric that normalizes for brand size.
Top-performing agencies deliver average annual revenue of $170,000 per client and $16.70 per subscriber.
Email automation is central to those revenue figures. On average, automations account for 45% of total email revenue and produce far higher returns per message than broadcast campaigns: $5.96 per automated message versus $0.67 per broadcast.
What Drives the Gap
The research isolated several practices linked to stronger client revenue. SMS and A/B testing were the biggest differentiators.
Agencies that use SMS generate 202% more revenue than those that don’t — the largest single-practice gap in the dataset. Regular A/B testing is nearly as impactful, linked to 192% higher revenue.
Agencies generated 202% more revenue with SMS and 192% more with regular A/B testing.
Targeted segmentation adds an incremental 8% lift, and deeper automation (where automations account for 20% or more of total revenue) drives an additional 6%. The automation figure is modest because most agencies use automation in some form; the gains come from how well workflows are built and maintained over time.
How They Operate
Performance differences reflect how the top agencies work.
Top agencies average 5.3 automations per client and launch their first within eight days of onboarding.
Speed matters early: top agencies launch their first automation within eight days of onboarding a client, capturing revenue sooner. That consistent pace extends across the relationship — a steady 5.4 campaigns monthly across all clients. Longer client relationships (averaging 1,020 days) are likely both a result and a reinforcement of that consistency.
Omnisend’s agency partners earn revenue for every referral, forever. Learn more >
Key Findings
The data points to a compounding effect rather than any single tactic. Adding SMS, running regular tests, building out automations, and maintaining consistent campaign activity each contribute incrementally.
The top 10% of agencies do all of these things together — and they do them faster and more thoroughly than peers.
- Monetization. Top agencies generate $170,000 per client annually and $16.70 per subscriber.
- Automation. Email automations drive 45% of total revenue and outperform broadcast campaigns, at $5.96 revenue per automation versus $0.67 per broadcast.
- SMS. Agencies using SMS generate 202% more revenue than those that don’t.
- Testing. Regular A/B testing produces an average 192% increase in revenue.
- Execution. Top agencies average 5.3 active automations and 5.4 campaigns per month, with the first automation launched within 8 days of onboarding.
- Consistency. Strong results come from combining channels, continuous testing, and lifecycle strategies.
Access the full report at Omnisend.com/top-agencies.
About Omnisend
Omnisend’s email and SMS marketing platform is trusted by 150,000 brands worldwide and rated 4.7 stars from more than 6,000 Shopify reviews. One-click integrations with top ecommerce platforms, automation and email templates, and award-winning 24/7/365 live customer support make it easy for brands of any size to sell more, affordably. Learn more at Omnisend.com.
