Privy just made a bold move to become a one-stop retention powerhouse for ecommerce.

The ecommerce marketing automation platform announced today that it has acquired Emotive, a pioneer in conversational SMS marketing, in a deal aimed squarely at giving mid-market brands the kind of personalized, cost-effective tools they’ve been missing.

The combined platform will let merchants run email campaigns, SMS automations, onsite popups, and even 1:1 real-time conversations from a single dashboard—no bloated tech stack or piecemeal integrations required.

“There’s no shortage of marketing tools—what’s missing is a true partner,” said Alex Persson, CEO of Privy. “Brands today crave human expertise and personalized strategies. This acquisition gives them the power to scale without added cost or complexity.”

The Mid-Market Gap

For years, midsize ecommerce brands have been caught in the middle—too large for basic tools like Mailchimp, but too small to justify the cost and complexity of enterprise suites like Klaviyo or Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Privy and Emotive’s union is a direct response to this underserved market, promising smarter customer retention at a price point that doesn’t require a Series A round to afford.

The new platform will support over 10,000 ecommerce brands, combining Emotive’s strengths in conversational SMS with Privy’s expertise in email automation and conversion-focused tools.

Key Features Now Under One Roof

Here’s what the new, unified platform brings to the table:

• Combined email and SMS automation flows, streamlining engagement across channels

• 1:1 customer conversations via SMS and email, bringing real dialogue to customer journeys

• High-converting popups and list growth tools, optimized for ecommerce

• Dedicated strategists for every brand, with hands-on support (not just chatbots)

• Transparent, low pricing, with no email sending caps or locked-in contracts

This isn’t just a tech upgrade—it’s a shift toward more human, high-touch marketing at scale.

“Privy has become indispensable to our strategy,” said Fancy Bands, an ecommerce brand using the platform. “It’s supercharged our conversions and lead capture—without the complexity.”

Building a Retention Engine, Not Just a MarTech Stack

Privy has long focused on solving the retention puzzle for growing ecommerce brands. With Emotive’s conversational capabilities, the platform now enables brands to deliver personalized, real-time messages at every stage of the funnel.

That’s especially timely in 2025, as customer acquisition costs continue to rise, and retention-driven strategies become critical for profitability. And in an age where zero-party data and meaningful interactions are more valuable than ever, Emotive’s 1:1 SMS expertise could be Privy’s secret weapon.

What’s Coming Next

Looking ahead, Privy is planning a slate of new features this summer and fall, including:

• Advanced marketing automation tools

• More robust zero-party data collection

• Expanded third-party integrations for broader ecosystem compatibility

The goal? Smarter, more connected marketing across every customer touchpoint.

With Emotive in its corner, Privy is no longer just an email and popup tool—it’s positioning itself as the all-in-one marketing brain for ecommerce brands that want to scale without complexity. For the thousands of merchants squeezed between DIY tools and overbuilt enterprise platforms, that might be exactly what they’ve been waiting for.

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