How to Get Shopify Store Owner Emails [7 Verified Methods]

Find verified email addresses for Shopify store owners and decision-makers. 7 proven methods from free manual techniques to databases with 70%+ verified contacts.

Store Inspector Team
Store Inspector Team
December 24, 202511 min read

How to get Shopify store owner emails

TL;DR: The fastest way to get Shopify store owner emails is using a store database with verified contacts like StoreInspect. For free methods, try LinkedIn Sales Navigator or scraping About/Team pages manually.


You found 50 perfect Shopify stores to pitch. Now what?

Finding stores is easy. Finding the founder's actual email? That's where most agencies hit a wall. Generic contact forms go nowhere. "info@" addresses get ignored. And guessing emails tanks your sender reputation.

Here's the reality: the average B2B cold email response rate is just 4-6%. But that drops to nearly zero when you're emailing the wrong person - or bouncing off invalid addresses. 25% of email databases decay every year, which means last year's list is already outdated.

This guide covers seven methods we've tested to find Shopify store owner emails - from free manual techniques to databases with 70%+ verified contacts. Each method includes effort level, accuracy, and when to use it.

Why Shopify Store Owner Emails Are Valuable

Before diving into methods, here's why contact data matters more than store data.

Reaching Multiple People Gets Responses

One email per store isn't enough. The best prospecting means reaching out to 2-3 people at the same company. If the founder doesn't reply, try the CMO. If the CMO ignores you, try the ecommerce manager.

We've seen stores with multiple verified contacts convert way better than single-contact leads. You need the founder AND the marketing director AND the operations manager.

Role-Based Targeting Increases Relevance

Different services need different contacts:

Your ServiceBest ContactWhy
Email marketing (Klaviyo)CMO, Marketing DirectorControls marketing budget
Development/Theme workCTO, FounderTechnical decision-maker
Paid ads (Meta, Google)CMO, Head of GrowthManages ad spend
Subscription appsEcommerce Manager, FounderProduct/revenue decisions
Logistics/FulfillmentOperations Manager, COOControls operations

Generic emails to "info@store.com" get ignored. Role-specific outreach to the right decision-maker gets responses.

Verified Emails Protect Your Sender Reputation

Sending cold emails to invalid addresses destroys your sender reputation. Bounce rates over 5% trigger spam filters and can get your domain blacklisted. We've seen agencies tank their email deliverability in weeks by skipping verification - don't let that be you.

Target: 70%+ verified emails before any outreach campaign. Anything lower risks damaging your ability to send emails at all.

Method 1: Scrape About and Team Pages

Many Shopify stores list their team on public pages. This is free but time-consuming.

Effort: High | Accuracy: Medium | Cost: Free

Where to Look

Check these URLs on any Shopify store:

  • /pages/about
  • /pages/about-us
  • /pages/our-story
  • /pages/team
  • /pages/leadership

Also check the footer for "About" or "Our Team" links.

What You'll Find

Team pages typically include:

  • Names and titles - "Sarah Chen, Co-Founder & CEO"
  • Photos - Useful for LinkedIn matching
  • Brief bios - Often mention background or LinkedIn
  • Sometimes email - Usually for customer service, rarely for founders

Real example: Allbirds' About page lists founders Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger with their backgrounds. From there, a quick LinkedIn search reveals their professional profiles - and an email finder tool can get you their business emails in seconds.

How to Extract Contact Info

  1. Find the team member name and title
  2. Search LinkedIn for "[Name] [Company]"
  3. Use an email finder tool (covered in Method 4)
  4. Verify the email before adding to your list
ProsCons
Completely freeVery time-consuming
High-quality leads (you researched them)Not all stores have team pages
Works for any storeRarely includes direct emails
Shows genuine interestHard to scale beyond 10-20 stores

Best for: High-value targets where you'll customize outreach anyway.

Method 2: LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn is the largest professional database. Sales Navigator makes it searchable for prospecting.

Effort: Medium | Accuracy: Medium-High | Cost: $99+/month

Search Strategies

Use LinkedIn's advanced search with these filters:

Find Shopify founders:

  • Keywords: "Founder" OR "Co-Founder" OR "CEO"
  • Keywords: "Shopify" OR "ecommerce" OR "DTC"
  • Geography: Your target region
  • Company headcount: 11-50 (sweet spot for agencies)

Find marketing decision-makers:

  • Title: "CMO" OR "VP Marketing" OR "Head of Marketing"
  • Industry: Retail, Consumer Goods
  • Keywords: "Shopify" OR "DTC brand"

The Company Page Approach

  1. Find the store's LinkedIn company page
  2. Click "See all employees"
  3. Filter by title (Founder, Marketing, etc.)
  4. Save leads to a list

This works better than individual searches because you know they work at your target store.

Export Limitations

LinkedIn doesn't let you export emails directly. You'll need to:

  1. Save leads to a Sales Navigator list
  2. Use a third-party tool to find emails (see Method 4)
  3. Or connect and message directly on LinkedIn
ProsCons
Massive database$99+/month cost
Filter by title, company sizeNo direct email export
See career history, connectionsResults vary by industry
InMail for direct outreachTime-consuming at scale

Best for: Targeted outreach to specific companies or roles.

Method 3: WHOIS Domain Lookup

Every domain registration includes contact information. Sometimes it's still accessible. (Honestly, this method rarely works anymore - but it takes 30 seconds, so worth a try.)

Effort: Low | Accuracy: Low | Cost: Free

How WHOIS Works

When someone registers a domain like brandname.com, they provide contact information. This used to be fully public. Now most registrars offer privacy protection by default.

How to Check

  1. Go to whois.domaintools.com or similar
  2. Enter the store's domain (without https://)
  3. Look for "Registrant Email" or "Admin Email"

What You'll Typically Find

For most stores (80%+), you'll see:

Registrant Email: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Email: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Privacy protection hides the real contact. You'll get the registrar's proxy email instead.

For older domains or privacy-unaware registrants, you might find real contact information - but this is rare.

The reality: This used to be a goldmine. Now 80%+ of domains have privacy protection, so you'll usually hit a dead end. But it's free and takes seconds - check it first, then move on.

Best for: Quick check before using other methods. Takes 30 seconds.

Method 4: Email Finder Tools (Hunter, Clearbit, Apollo)

Email finder tools take a name and company and return probable email addresses.

Effort: Low | Accuracy: Medium | Cost: $49+/month

How Email Finding Works

These tools:

  1. Crawl the web for email mentions
  2. Analyze company email patterns (first.last@company.com)
  3. Cross-reference with their databases
  4. Return emails with confidence scores
ToolStarting PriceBest For
Hunter.io$49/mo (500 searches)Domain email search
ClearbitCustom pricingCompany enrichment
Apollo.io$49/moFull prospecting workflow
Snov.io$39/moEmail finding + outreach
RocketReach$53/moDirect emails + phone

Hunter's domain search is the most straightforward:

  1. Enter any domain (e.g., allbirds.com)
  2. Get a list of emails found for that domain
  3. See email pattern (first@, first.last@, etc.)
  4. Use pattern to guess other emails

Hunter.io domain search results

This works well for larger companies with many indexed emails. Smaller Shopify stores may have no results.

Verification Included

Most tools include built-in verification. Check for:

  • Valid - Email exists and accepts mail
  • Invalid - Email bounces
  • Catch-all - Domain accepts all emails (can't verify)
  • Unknown - Couldn't determine status

Only use "Valid" emails for cold outreach.

ProsCons
Fast and scalableMonthly subscription cost
Built-in verificationAccuracy varies (50-70%)
Works with any domainSmall stores have sparse data
API for automationCredits run out quickly

Best for: Finding emails when you already have names from LinkedIn or team pages.

Method 5: Store Databases with Verified Contacts

This is the method we recommend for most agencies. Instead of building contact lists manually, use a database that's already done the work. Yes, we're biased (we built one), but the time savings are real.

Effort: Low | Accuracy: High | Cost: $49+/month

What Makes a Good Store Database

Not all databases are equal. Look for:

FeatureWhy It Matters
Multiple contacts per storeReaching 2-3 people works. 1 contact isn't enough.
Email verificationProtects sender reputation. Target 70%+ verified.
Job title grouping"Co-Founder" and "CEO" should be searchable together.
Regular updatesContacts change jobs. Data goes stale fast.
App/tech stack dataFilter by apps they use (or don't use).

StoreInspect: Built for Lead Generation

StoreInspect is designed specifically for Shopify lead generation with verified contacts.

What you get:

  • 2-5 contacts per store - Founders, CMOs, ecommerce managers, CTOs
  • 70%+ email verification rate - Verified with ZeroBounce/NeverBounce
  • Smart job title search - Search "founder" and get CEO, Co-Founder, Owner results
  • App/tech stack filters - Filter by Klaviyo, Recharge, or stores with NO email app
  • Export to CSV - Ready for your CRM or outreach tool

Use case example:

"Fashion stores, 10k-50k traffic, using Mailchimp (not Klaviyo), has verified founder email"

Export 100 qualified leads in minutes. No manual research.

StoreInspect dashboard showing verified contacts

Comparison: StoreInspect vs Alternatives

FeatureStoreInspectStoreLeadBrandNav
Contacts per store2-511-2
Email verification70%+VariesVaries
Role filteringYesLimitedYes
Tech stack detectionYesYesLimited
Starting price$49/mo$75/mo$19/mo
Shopify focusYesMulti-platformYes

The tradeoff: You pay monthly instead of spending hours researching. For occasional prospecting, the manual methods work fine. For regular lead gen, a database pays for itself in the first week. The main limitation is coverage - no database has every store, but they have the ones worth reaching.

Best for: Agencies and SaaS vendors doing regular prospecting. Saves 10+ hours per week.

Browse stores with verified contacts →

Method 6: Facebook Ad Library to LinkedIn Pipeline

Stores running Facebook ads are active, have budget, and are investing in growth. They're premium prospects.

Effort: High | Accuracy: Medium | Cost: Free

The Workflow

Step 1: Find active advertisers

  1. Go to Facebook Ad Library
  2. Set country and category (e.g., "Online shopping")
  3. Search for niche keywords ("sustainable fashion", "organic skincare")
  4. Look for ads from Shopify stores (not Amazon sellers)

Facebook Ad Library search results

Step 2: Identify the brand

  1. Click on an ad to see the advertiser
  2. Visit their website to confirm it's Shopify
  3. Note their store URL

Step 3: Find contacts via LinkedIn

  1. Search LinkedIn for the company
  2. Find employees with relevant titles
  3. Use email finder tools (Method 4) to get contact info

Why This Works

Ad-running stores are high-quality leads because:

  • They have budget - Spending on ads means revenue to spend on services
  • They understand ROI - They measure results, so your pitch can be ROI-focused
  • They're growth-minded - Active advertising = active growth effort
  • They're engaged - Unlike dormant stores, these are actively working

Real example: Search "sustainable sneakers" in the Ad Library and you'll find brands like Cariuma running active campaigns. Visit their site, confirm it's Shopify, then search LinkedIn for "Cariuma founder" - you'll find co-founders Fernando Porto and David Python with detailed profiles.

ProsCons
Free to useVery time-consuming
Premium quality leadsMulti-step process
Verified active advertisersStill need email finder for contacts
Anyone can accessNo export or filtering

Best for: Finding high-value prospects when quality matters more than quantity.

Method 7: Email Pattern Guessing

When other methods fail, you can guess email addresses based on common patterns.

Effort: Medium | Accuracy: Low | Cost: Free

Common Email Patterns

Most companies use one of these patterns:

Tools for Pattern Guessing

Email Permutator+ - Generates all possible email combinations from a name and domain.

  1. Enter first name, last name, and domain
  2. Get 20+ possible email variations
  3. Verify each one to find the valid address

Critical: Verify Before Sending

Never send to guessed emails without verification. Tools like ZeroBounce, NeverBounce, or Clearout check if an email exists.

Verification costs $0.001-0.005 per email. Much cheaper than damaging your sender reputation with bounces.

Should you use this? Only when nothing else works. It's free but tedious - you're generating 20+ possible emails and verifying each one. Some companies use random patterns (like jsmith847@company.com) that you'll never guess. That said, when you really need to reach someone specific, this can crack the code.

Best for: Last resort when you have a name but can't find their email anywhere.

How to Verify Emails Before Outreach

This is the step people skip - and regret. Email verification is not optional. It's essential. Here's how to do it right.

Why Verification Matters

MetricWith VerificationWithout
Bounce rateUnder 2%10-30%
Sender reputationProtectedDamaged
Inbox placementHighLow
Campaign successNormalFailing

ISPs track your bounce rate. Over 5% and you're flagged as a spammer. Over 10% and you may be blacklisted.

Verification Tools Compared

ToolPriceSpeedBest For
ZeroBounce$0.008/emailFastAccuracy
NeverBounce$0.008/emailFastBulk lists
Clearout$0.005/emailFastBudget
Bouncer$0.006/emailFastAPI access

Understanding Verification Results

StatusMeaningAction
ValidEmail exists, accepts mailSafe to send
InvalidEmail doesn't existNever send
Catch-allDomain accepts everythingRisky to send
UnknownCouldn't verifySkip or test carefully
DisposableTemporary emailDon't bother

Rule: Only send to "Valid" emails. Catch-all is risky. Everything else is a no.

Target Verification Rate

Aim for 70%+ verified emails in any list. If you're below 50%, your data sources are poor - reconsider your approach.

Building Your Contact Database Workflow

Here's a complete workflow combining these methods.

Step 1: Find Target Stores

Start with stores that match your ideal customer:

Step 2: Prioritize by Fit

Not every store is worth prospecting. Use the STAMP framework to score leads before investing time in contact research. Prioritize:

SignalWhy It Matters
Traffic tier 10k-50kBig enough to pay, small enough to care
Missing apps in your categoryClear sales opportunity
Active on social mediaEngaged, growth-minded
Has multiple team membersSomeone will respond

Step 3: Extract Contacts

Use the methods above in this order:

  1. Check store database first - Fastest if contacts already exist
  2. LinkedIn for decision-makers - Get names and titles
  3. Email finder tools - Turn names into emails
  4. Team page as backup - Manual research for high-value targets

Step 4: Verify Everything

Run all emails through a verification service before any outreach:

  • Bulk upload your list
  • Remove invalid and unknown
  • Keep only verified (and maybe catch-all if you're aggressive)

Step 5: Export to CRM

Structure your export for easy CRM import:

store_name, domain, category, traffic_tier,
contact_name, contact_title, contact_role, contact_email, email_status,
contact_linkedin

Import to HubSpot, Pipedrive, or your outreach tool.

FAQ

Yes. You're collecting publicly available business contact information for B2B outreach. This is legal in most jurisdictions. However:

  • Follow CAN-SPAM (US), GDPR (EU), CASL (Canada) rules for sending
  • Include unsubscribe options in cold emails
  • Don't scrape personal email addresses (only business)
  • Respect opt-out requests immediately

What's a good email verification rate?

70%+ is good. 80%+ is excellent. Below 50% means your data sources are poor.

If you're consistently getting low verification rates, you're either using bad data or old contacts. Switch methods or sources.

How many contacts should I have per store?

Minimum 2, ideally 3-5. Reaching multiple people at one company gets way better response rates. One contact per store is outdated - and honestly, a waste of a good lead.

Roles to prioritize:

  1. Founder / CEO (decision-maker)
  2. CMO / Head of Marketing (budget holder for marketing services)
  3. Ecommerce Manager (day-to-day operations)

Should I use catch-all emails?

Risky but possible. Catch-all domains accept any email to that domain - you can't verify if the specific mailbox exists.

If you use catch-all emails:

  • Test with a small batch first
  • Monitor bounce rates closely
  • Stop immediately if bounces spike

How often should I re-verify emails?

Every 3-6 months. People change jobs, companies restructure, and emails go inactive. A list that was 80% valid six months ago might be 60% valid today.

Re-verify before any new campaign, especially if the list is older than 90 days.

Summary: Which Method Should You Use?

MethodCostAccuracyEffortBest For
About page scrapingFreeMediumHighHigh-value targets
LinkedIn Sales Navigator$99+/moMedium-HighMediumTargeted outreach
WHOIS lookupFreeLowLowQuick check
Email finder tools$49+/moMediumLowWhen you have names
Store databases$49+/moHighLowRegular prospecting
Facebook Ad LibraryFreeMediumHighPremium leads
Pattern guessingFreeLowMediumLast resort

For most agencies and SaaS vendors: Start with a store database that includes verified contacts. It's the fastest path to qualified leads.

For occasional research: Combine LinkedIn + email finder tools for targeted outreach.

For budget-conscious starters: Team page scraping + verification is slow but free.


Ready to find Shopify store contacts at scale?

StoreInspect gives you verified contacts for thousands of Shopify stores - founders, CMOs, and ecommerce managers with 70%+ verified emails.

Browse stores with contacts →

Or analyze any store instantly with our free extension: Install Store Inspector

Share this post

Find Shopify Clients Worth Your Time

Search by niche, traffic, and tech stack. Export with verified emails.

Dashboard

Related posts