The WooCommerce extensions that do most for marketing cover email, abandoned carts, reviews and referrals. Some run as plugins inside your WordPress site and use your hosting; others are outside services that copy customer and order data to their servers. Decide which you're comfortable with before you pick by feature.
WooCommerce doesn't put every marketing tool through one gatekeeper. You can install almost anything, which is freeing, and it means the most useful question isn't which tool has the longest feature list. It's where the tool runs and where your customer data ends up.
So I've grouped nine extensions by exactly that, then noted the marketing job each one does. They're in no particular order, and they're described only as their own pages describe them.
Plugin on your site or service off it?
Plugins that run inside WordPress
CartBounty saves and recovers abandoned carts, MailPoet sends store emails from WordPress, Customer Reviews for WooCommerce sends review reminders and AffiliateWP manages affiliates. Because they run on your site, they use your hosting, and your customer data stays in your own database.
Services your store connects to
Metorik pairs store analytics with email, Retainful handles cart recovery by email and WhatsApp, and Brevo syncs customers and orders through an official plugin. Referral Rock lists a WooCommerce integration for refer-a-friend programmes, and ReferralCandy is Shopify-first but says it works on WooCommerce too. All of these copy some of your customer and order data to their own servers.
Neither route is better in itself. A plugin keeps data at home but adds load to your hosting and needs updating alongside WordPress. A service takes that load away and often brings reporting you'd struggle to build, but your customer list now lives in two places. If you're not sure which kind a tool is, look at its setup steps: if it asks you to create an account on its own site and connect your store, it's a service.
The gaps: popups and SMS
You won't find a popup tool or a dedicated SMS tool here. None of the ones I looked at said clearly on its own site that it works with WooCommerce, so I've left them out rather than guess. One connected email service here lists SMS within its wider platform, and for texting specialists our guide to SMS marketing software is the place to start; check WooCommerce support on each vendor's site.
The nine extensions, in no particular order
AffiliateWP
Best for: Stores wanting affiliate management inside WordPress, from a plugin whose site names WooCommerce first among its featured integrations.
Brevo
Best for: Email and messaging with an official plugin that syncs customers and orders in real time and sends store emails through its own SMTP (vendor claim).
CartBounty
Best for: Recovering abandoned carts from inside your site, with follow-up through connected tools such as ActiveCampaign, GetResponse, Mailchimp, WhatsApp or push messages.
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce
Best for: Collecting more product reviews with automated reminders after purchase and reviews shown on WooCommerce product pages, per its WordPress.org listing.
MailPoet
Best for: WordPress-based email with automations for abandoned carts, first purchases and buyers of a product or category.
Metorik
Best for: Owners who want analytics and email together: real-time store data, segments and WooCommerce-specific reports such as subscriptions (vendor claim).
Referral Rock
Best for: Businesses running refer-a-friend sharing after purchase, with Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce integrations listed (vendor claim).
ReferralCandy
Best for: Referral and affiliate programmes from a service that leads with Shopify but says it works on WooCommerce too, so treat WooCommerce as its second platform.
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Retainful
Best for: Repeat sales and cart recovery by email and WhatsApp: connect the store, import your list and launch a first recovery flow, per the vendor.
Where each one runs, in one table
| Tool | Runs as and job | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| AffiliateWP | Plugin: affiliates and referrals | Running an affiliate programme from inside WordPress |
| Brevo | Service: email and messaging | Customer and order sync through an official plugin |
| CartBounty | Plugin: abandoned carts | Saving abandoned carts and following them up |
| Customer Reviews for WooCommerce | Plugin: reviews | Automated review reminders and reviews on product pages |
| MailPoet | Plugin: email | Abandoned cart and first-purchase emails from WordPress |
| Metorik | Service: analytics and email | Store reports, segments and email in one place |
| Referral Rock | Service: referrals | Refer-a-friend sharing after purchase |
| ReferralCandy | Service: referrals, Shopify-first | Refer-a-friend rewards from a Shopify-led service |
| Retainful | Service: cart recovery | Cart recovery flows by email and WhatsApp |
My advice for WooCommerce shop owners
Start with abandoned carts and post-purchase emails, because they work on people who already wanted to buy. If you'd rather keep everything on your own site, a cart plugin plus a WordPress email plugin covers that. If you want reporting and segments as well, a connected service may save you building them yourself.
Add reviews next, then referrals once you've got happy customers to ask. Keep it to one tool per job, so your shoppers don't get two abandoned cart emails from two systems. For what to put in those emails, our ecommerce email marketing guide has the detail.
Site speed and privacy once it's installed
Every plugin adds work for your server, so check your page speed before and after you install one. Every connected service copies customer data somewhere else, so add it to your privacy policy and your list of processors, and make sure your checkout consent wording covers the emails it'll send. It's ten minutes of admin that saves an awkward conversation later.
Do you make a WooCommerce marketing extension? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a WooCommerce plugin and a connected service?
A plugin runs inside your WordPress site and stores data in your database. A connected service runs on the vendor's servers and copies some store data, such as customers and orders, to them.
Do WooCommerce marketing plugins slow down my store?
They can, because they use your hosting. Test your page speed before and after installing one, and remove plugins you don't use.
Which marketing job should a WooCommerce store fix first?
Abandoned cart and post-purchase emails are a sensible start, because they reach people who already showed interest. Reviews and referrals usually come next.
Do I need to update my privacy policy for a marketing service?
If the service receives customer data, yes, it's good practice to name it. Data protection rules vary by country, so check what applies to you.
Can Shopify-first tools work on WooCommerce?
Some say they do. Check the vendor's own WooCommerce page for what syncs and how it connects before you rely on it.
Is there a WooCommerce popup tool on this list?
No. None could be confirmed on its own site as working with WooCommerce, so check any popup tool's WooCommerce support directly.
