Case studies
Avada Commerce provides eCommerce solutions to merchants across Singapore, Vietnam, and the US, with the bulk of its customers using Shopify. As founder Sam Nguyen explains, the business supports Shopify merchants with everything from loyalty programs and invoicing to SEO optimization. One of its core services is email marketing, which helps merchants connect with their customers and follow up on things like cart abandonment and enquiries.
Six years ago, Avada was using another email provider to deliver this service to customers – but it wasn’t up to the job.
“We had a lot of challenges,” explains Sam. “We got a lot of tickets about emails being sent to promotion or spam, or emails not working.”
Ongoing deliverability issues and complaints sparked a search for a new, dependable email system.
After experiencing issues with the original email platform, Avada switched to Mailgun. Sam explains that he chose the platform based on its reputation for speed and reliability.
“I got onto Mailgun six years ago for our email marketing app,” he says. “And I’m still sticking with Mailgun because it’s the number one for email marketing. There’s no one else.”
Using Mailgun, Avada customers can create email marketing campaigns along with triggered notifications and responses. For example, merchants can set up an ‘abandoned cart’ email sequence to follow up with a customer a few hours after they’ve left the site without buying. Often, Avada’s clients also send an SMS or WhatsApp message after the follow-up email, giving the customer another nudge to return to their purchase.
The platform integrates with Avada’s other products, and the user-friendly API makes it easy for merchants to use. It’s flexible and scalable enough to handle high-volume email communication from hundreds of thousands of merchants, even during busy times like Black Friday/Cyber Monday.
“There’s no downtime, and it automatically scales up when there’s high demand,” says Sam.
What has Mailgun changed for Avada and its customers? The platform is helping Avada deliver a better service, including higher open rates, increased deliverability, and fewer issues with emails going into spam folders.
Mailgun by the numbers:
As Sam explains, the Avada team saw these benefits very quickly, with a simple implementation and integration process. He and his team – and his customers – found the Mailgun API easy to use from the start. Support from the Mailgun team has been invaluable, particularly when it comes to dealing with spam and domain blocking issues. Sam explains that spammers sometimes spoof merchant IP addresses and send spam emails – an issue that the old provider ignored. The Mailgun team is proactive about blocking scam domains and preventing this kind of spam. This support means that the Avada team can handle complaints from customers quickly, with minimal downtime or service disruption.
As a fast-growing business working in a competitive space, Avada is always looking for ways to improve its service. It will continue to use Mailgun for its email solutions, along with integrated SMS messaging and WhatsApp – both enhancing open rates and conversions.
As Sam explains, the business is already trialing AI-powered conversational chat for shopping, along with other social media integrations. These could potentially be used alongside email to follow up on cart abandonment or send sale offers. It’s about giving customers more options, so they can communicate with their own customers as effectively as possible.
“Mailgun is very easy to use, the API is ready to go, and the team is very supportive,” he says.
I got onto Mailgun six years ago for our email marketing app. And I’m still sticking with Mailgun because it’s the number one for email marketing. There’s no one else.
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