A new industry report from Omnisend suggests the secret behind high-performing ecommerce marketing agencies isn’t just bigger audiences—it’s extracting more value from the customers brands already have.

Analyzing campaigns run by 717 agencies managing nearly 3,000 small and mid-sized ecommerce brands, the company found that the top 10% of agencies generate $170,000 in annual revenue per client, averaging $16.70 per subscriber.

The research reveals that these standout agencies don’t rely on a single growth tactic. Instead, they combine several practices—particularly SMS marketing, systematic A/B testing, and automation—to continuously improve how customer audiences are used.

The result is a compounding revenue engine rather than one-off marketing campaigns.

The Playbook Behind Top-Performing Agencies

According to the report, agencies ranked in the top 10% by subscriber revenue consistently apply a mix of strategies designed to increase engagement and conversion rates.

Among the strongest performance indicators:

• Agencies using SMS marketing see 202% higher revenue per client on average.
• Agencies running regular A/B testing are linked to 192% higher revenue.
• Agencies applying audience segmentation see a smaller but consistent 8% revenue uplift.

Individually, none of these tactics are groundbreaking. Combined, however, they form a disciplined approach to customer lifecycle marketing.

Instead of treating campaigns as isolated events, successful agencies continually test, refine, and personalize their messaging.

“When you combine channels, test what actually works, and tailor messages to different customers, every decision becomes more informed,” said Marty Bauer, ecommerce expert at Omnisend.

Over time, Bauer argues, this iterative process creates a level of customer understanding that’s difficult for competitors to replicate.

Automation: The Revenue Engine Working Behind the Scenes

If testing and personalization improve campaign performance, automation is what turns those improvements into long-term revenue.

The report found that automated messages generate $5.96 per send on average, compared with $0.67 per standard campaign email—a nearly ninefold increase in revenue efficiency.

Because of that difference, automation accounts for 45% of total email revenue among the top-performing agencies analyzed.

These agencies also move quickly to establish automation systems when onboarding new ecommerce clients.

On average, they:

• Launch their first automation within eight days of starting work with a brand
• Maintain 5.3 automation workflows per client

These workflows typically include common ecommerce automations such as welcome sequences, browse abandonment reminders, cart recovery emails, and post-purchase follow-ups.

While those flows are widely known across ecommerce marketing, the key differentiator appears to be execution speed and consistency.

Email Is No Longer Just a Broadcast Channel

Many brands still treat email marketing as a simple broadcasting tool—something used primarily to announce promotions or product launches.

But the agencies generating the strongest results approach it differently.

“Many brands still treat email like a megaphone—something you turn on when you have something to say,” Bauer said.

The best-performing agencies instead treat email and SMS as an always-on revenue system that responds to customer behavior in real time.

Triggered messages based on actions such as browsing products, abandoning a cart, or signing up for a newsletter create more relevant interactions with customers.

And relevance, in marketing, typically translates into higher conversions.

Behavioral Marketing Beats Calendar Marketing

Another key finding in the report is the shift from calendar-based marketing to behavior-driven messaging.

Traditional marketing calendars often revolve around sales periods, product launches, and promotional cycles. While those events still matter, the most effective agencies combine them with behavior-triggered messages.

Examples include:

• Welcome messages when a user subscribes
• Browse abandonment reminders after product views
• Cart recovery emails after incomplete purchases
• Re-engagement campaigns for inactive customers

By reacting to real customer behavior instead of fixed schedules, agencies can reach shoppers at moments when they’re already considering a purchase.

This approach improves both timing and relevance—two of the most important drivers of conversion.

Why SMS Is Emerging as a High-Impact Channel

One of the most striking statistics in the report is the 202% revenue increase linked to agencies using SMS marketing.

SMS has been gaining traction in ecommerce marketing over the past several years because of its exceptionally high engagement rates.

While email open rates vary widely depending on industry and campaign type, text messages are typically opened within minutes.

For brands, that immediacy makes SMS an effective complement to email, particularly for time-sensitive promotions, abandoned cart reminders, and order updates.

However, successful agencies rarely treat SMS as a standalone channel. Instead, they integrate it with email marketing workflows to create coordinated campaigns.

Lessons for Marketing Agencies

According to Bauer, the biggest difference between average and top-performing agencies isn’t simply the tactics they deploy—it’s how they think about marketing systems.

“Best-performing agencies treat email and SMS as systems to improve over time, not tasks to complete,” Bauer said.

That mindset influences how agencies prioritize their work, measure success, and collaborate with clients.

The report highlights several practical steps agencies can adopt to improve performance:

Launch automation early.
Delays in setting up welcome flows, browse reminders, and cart recovery sequences mean lost revenue opportunities.

Use campaigns as learning tools.
Testing subject lines, timing, and offers generates insights that can be applied to both campaigns and automated workflows.

Prioritize behavioral triggers.
Messages triggered by customer actions tend to outperform scheduled campaigns because they arrive at the right moment.

Improve systems incrementally.
Revenue growth rarely comes from a single breakthrough tactic. Instead, it builds over time as agencies add channels, refine automations, and optimize targeting.

A Data-Driven Look at Agency Performance

The report’s findings are based on anonymized campaign performance data from agencies operating on the Omnisend platform.

Researchers examined marketing activity across 2,990 ecommerce brands, focusing on campaign results, automation performance, and revenue generated through email and SMS marketing.

To ensure meaningful comparisons, agencies were ranked using revenue generated per subscriber rather than total revenue. This approach removes the influence of brand size, allowing smaller and larger clients to be evaluated on equal footing.

Agencies in the top 10% by subscriber revenue were classified as top performers and used as the benchmark throughout the study.

Outlier data points were removed to prevent extreme results from skewing the analysis, and all data was aggregated and anonymized.

The Bigger Martech Trend

The insights from the report reinforce a broader shift happening across marketing technology.

As customer acquisition costs rise and privacy regulations limit targeting options, brands are increasingly focusing on customer lifetime value and retention rather than pure audience growth.

That shift places greater importance on systems like automation, segmentation, and lifecycle marketing—the same strategies highlighted in Omnisend’s analysis.

For ecommerce brands and the agencies supporting them, the message is clear: growth doesn’t necessarily come from reaching more people.

Often, it comes from understanding the customers you already have—and communicating with them more intelligently.

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