ESC Wishlist + Save for Later vs Listr: Wishlist + Reminder — An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is one of the many decisions Shopify merchants face when building a retention stack. Both ESC Wishlist + Save for Later and Listr: Wishlist + Reminder aim to capture interest and bring customers back, but they take different approaches to features, automation, and customization. This comparison looks at their capabilities side by side, then explores when a multi-tool retention platform may make more sense than adding single-purpose apps.

Short answer: ESC Wishlist + Save for Later is a very small, focused tool that lets customers save items at the cart and create unlimited wishlists; it appeals to merchants who need a minimal, low-effort wishlist UI. Listr: Wishlist + Reminder offers richer wishlist behavior — guest lists, price-drop and recurring reminder emails, analytics, and social proof indicators — and is better suited for stores that need automated re-engagement without adding separate email tools. For merchants who want to consolidate retention features into a single platform, Growave presents better value for money and broader capability than either single-purpose app.

Purpose of this post: provide a neutral, feature-by-feature comparison of ESC Wishlist + Save for Later and Listr: Wishlist + Reminder so merchants can decide which app fits their store needs, budget, and roadmap — and then explain when a consolidated retention platform is the smarter long-term choice.

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later vs. Listr: Wishlist + Reminder: At a Glance

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Core Wishlist Behavior

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later

ESC’s core functionality centers on letting customers save items for later and organizing unlimited wishlists. The saved items appear under the cart, which is intended to surface saved products at checkout so customers can convert with a single click. The developer highlights customization options for how the widget looks.

Strengths:

• Save-for-later section lives under the cart, increasing visibility at checkout.
• Unlimited wishlists for categorization.

Limitations:

• No clear automated follow-up (reminder emails or price-drop notifications).
• Very small install base and only 2 reviews with a 1-star rating on the Shopify listing, which signals caution regarding reliability, support, or product maturity.

Use case:

• Small stores that want a minimal on-cart save-for-later UI without automation.

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder

Listr positions itself as a wishlist engine that also drives re-engagement. It supports guest wishlists (no sign-in required), shareable wishlist links, and shows how many other customers have a product in their wishlist to add social proof. The differentiator is automated reminders: merchants can send daily, weekly, or monthly emails and trigger price-drop alerts.

Strengths:

• Automated reminder cadence and price-drop emails that drive repeat visits.
• Built-in social proof (“X customers saved this”) and analytics (top wishlisted products).
• Flexible guest wishlist and sharing options reduce friction for customers.

Limitations:

• Free plan limits to 100 items and 100 wishlist emails; fully useful features require the Premium plan ($4.99/month).
• Smaller app ecosystem integration list compared with enterprise tools.

Use case:

• Merchants who want automated re-engagement from wishlist signals without building custom email flows.

Email Automation and Re-Engagement

Email automation is a major factor for wishlist ROI: reminders and price-drop messages convert interest into purchases by nudging customers back.

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:

• No explicit automated email functionality in the public description.
• Relying on saved items appearing at checkout is a low-friction tactic, but it misses out on off-site engagement opportunities—especially for customers who don’t return organically.

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder:

• Built-in daily/weekly/monthly reminder emails based on customer preferences.
• Price-drop email triggers when a product goes on sale or price decreases.
• Customizable email templates available on the Premium plan.
• This built-in automation can reduce reliance on a merchant’s email platform for wishlist-specific re-engagement, but merchants should evaluate deliverability, reporting, and branding options.

Practical implication:

• For stores that want proactive reactivation from wishlist behavior without custom Klaviyo flows, Listr adds clear value. ESC’s model could be adequate for merchants relying on on-site conversion paths or if a dedicated email tool already handles reminders.

User Experience (Customer-Facing)

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:

• On-cart visibility helps surface saved items at a high-conversion moment (checkout).
• Unlimited wishlists allow categorization, but the workflow depends on how well the widget integrates visually with the theme.
• Social sharing is present but not emphasized as a growth mechanism in the product description.

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder:

• No signup required to add items — that reduces friction and increases adoption.
• Guest wishlists and sharable links encourage social sharing and gifting workflows.
• The app includes social proof features (count of others who wishlisted an item) that can influence purchase decisions.

Considerations:

• Reducing friction (guest wishlist) and providing social proof generally increase wishlist adoption and conversion. Listr’s features support these behaviors more directly than ESC’s cart-centric placement.

Customization & Theming

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:

• Advertises a broad range of options for customizing appearance.
• Because it keeps the saved-for-later section under the cart, theme-specific integration quality can vary; merchants should test UI on mobile and desktop.

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder:

• Offers customizable wishlist icons, pages, and email templates (Premium).
• Allows merchants to brand the wishlist experience more fully.

Best practice:

• Merchants with tightly-branded storefronts should prioritize apps that allow custom CSS or template-level tweaks. Listr explicitly markets customizable elements; ESC claims customization but lacks third-party reviews to validate ease of use.

Analytics & Reporting

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:

• No public claim of detailed analytics or reporting.
• Without analytics, merchants can miss signals about what customers save most and which items drive conversions from wishlists.

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder:

• Lists analytics and reports among features, including top wishlisted products.
• Sends wishlist email stats and price-drop performance, which helps merchants prioritize inventory and promotions.

Why it matters:

• Analytics transform wishlist usage from a passive convenience into an insight-driven retention channel. Listr offers this capability; ESC appears limited here.

Social Sharing & Virality

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:

• Mentions free social sharing, implying customers can share lists on social platforms.
• Sharing from the cart or wishlist page must be tested for UX and tracking performance.

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder:

• Emphasizes shareable wishlist links and social sharing as part of the product experience.
• Guest wishlist and easy sharing lower friction for gift discovery and peer-to-peer referrals.

Merchants focused on social traffic or gift-driven sales should prioritize shareability and tracking. Listr’s sharing features are purpose-built for that use.

Integration Ecosystem

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:

• Works with Shopify storefront features but does not advertise deep integrations with email or CRM tools.
• If merchants rely on Klaviyo, Omnisend, or other ESPs for lifecycle marketing, ESC’s lack of integration requires extra manual work or custom development.

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder:

• Lists compatibility with product filter apps and includes built-in email reminder functionality, which reduces the immediate need for integration with an ESP for wishlist-specific messages.
• For merchants who need to pull wishlist data into broader customer profiles, it’s important to validate whether Listr exposes APIs, webhooks, or data export.

Integration advice:

• Confirm whether the app provides webhooks or CSV exports to stitch wishlist events into broader customer journeys. Built-in email is useful, but sending wishlist events into a master ESP often yields better long-term segmentation and deliverability control.

Pricing & Value

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:

• Single plan listed: Monthly plan at $5 / month.
• Very straightforward price point; low monthly cost is attractive for merchants with tight budgets.
• However, a 1-star rating from 2 reviews raises value-for-money concerns: low cost may correlate with limited support or missing features.

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder:

• Free plan: Up to 100 items added to wishlist and up to 100 wishlist emails; includes customizable icons and sharing.
• Premium plan: $4.99 / month — everything unlimited, plus email reminders, price drop emails, customizable templates, and a customizable wishlist page.
• Listr’s Premium plan offers “everything unlimited” for a similar price point to ESC but adds automation and reporting, which typically increases conversion and ROI.

Value comparison:

• Listr provides more functionality at a comparable monthly price, which means better value for money if the automation and analytics are needed.
• ESC can still be a low-cost option if the primary goal is a simple save-for-later on-cart UI and the merchant does not require reminders or reporting.

Total cost of ownership considerations:

• Evaluate the long-term cost of multiple single-purpose apps: adding separate tools for loyalty, reviews, notifications, and wishlists can increase monthly fees and complexity. That context is important when assessing monthly price alone.

Support & Reliability

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:

• Two reviews with a 1-star rating signal potential support gaps or product issues. The low review count also indicates modest adoption, which can impact reliability and feature development.

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder:

• 27 reviews and a 4.3 rating suggest stronger adoption and generally positive merchant experiences.
• Review count and rating are not the whole story — merchants should read recent feedback to confirm the app’s stability across themes and Shopify versions.

Due diligence:

• Check recent reviews, ask the developer about SLA, and test the app in a staging theme before installing on a live store.

Data Ownership, Privacy, and Compliance

Both apps handle customer interactions and, in Listr’s case, send emails triggered by wishlist actions. Merchants should confirm:

• How wishlist data is stored and whether it can be exported.
• Whether emails are sent through the merchant’s ESP or the app’s sending infrastructure (deliverability and branding implications).
• Compliance with local regulations (GDPR, CCPA) regarding user consent for email reminders and data retention.

Merchants who need tight control over email sending and consent management may prefer to route events into an existing ESP and use its permissioning and deliverability mechanisms.

Scalability and Store Growth

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:

• Simplicity may be an advantage for small catalogs, but the app lacks signals of enterprise readiness (limited reviews, minimal integration claims).

Listr: Wishlist + Reminder:

• Feature set (analytics, automation) scales better with store growth because it can automate re-engagement and surface top wishlisted items to merchandising and marketing teams.
• However, merchants growing into higher-order needs (loyalty, VIP tiers, referrals, UGC) will eventually face tool sprawl if multiple single-purpose apps are adopted.

Strategic note:

• Wishlist behavior is valuable input for broader retention strategies. As merchants scale, wishlist data often needs to feed loyalty programs, referral incentives, and review campaigns. Consider whether wishlist data can be centralized.

Use-Case Scenarios: Which App Fits Which Merchant?

Best Fit for ESC Wishlist + Save for Later

• Merchants who want a minimal save-for-later UI at the checkout to reduce cart abandonment from indecision.
• Stores prioritizing low monthly cost for a small, focused feature and willing to accept limited automation.
• Brands that already run sophisticated email automation and prefer not to duplicate reminder functionality in a wishlist app.

Why choose ESC:

• Simplicity and visual placement at the cart may directly nudge checkout completion for customers who return to the cart.

When not to choose ESC:

• If automated reminders, price-drop emails, or analytics are required, ESC is underpowered compared with Listr.

Best Fit for Listr: Wishlist + Reminder

• Merchants who want wishlist-triggered automation out of the box (reminder cadence, price drop alerts).
• Stores that benefit from frictionless guest wishlists and shareable lists for gifting and social growth.
• Merchants seeking analytics on wishlist behavior to inform merchandising, marketing, and promotions.

Why choose Listr:

• Built-in reminders and price-drop emails increase the chances of converting wishlist interest into orders without building additional flows.
• The free tier allows evaluation, and the Premium plan provides unlimited usage for a modest monthly fee.

When not to choose Listr:

• If a merchant prefers wishlist events to be handled entirely by the store’s ESP for deliverability and brand control, confirm integration/export capabilities before committing.

Migration, Implementation, and Testing Tips

When evaluating or switching wishlist tools, consider these practical steps:

• Test in a duplicate/staging theme to ensure widget placement and responsive behavior do not interfere with checkout or other scripts.
• Track wishlist events in analytics (e.g., GA4) or via webhooks so the impact on conversions and repeat purchases can be measured.
• Validate email branding and deliverability: if the app sends emails from its own platform, request sample email headers and test deliverability to major inbox providers.
• Check for data export or API access so wishlist signals can be connected to loyalty, CRM, and fulfillment workflows.
• Start with a short evaluation period (the free or low-cost plan) and review analytics before upgrading.

The Alternative: Solving App Fatigue with an All-in-One Platform

Retailers often adopt single-purpose apps to solve immediate problems. Over time, adding a wishlist app, a loyalty program, a reviews tool, and referral software creates app sprawl: more monthly fees, overlapping features, fragmented data, and increased maintenance.

This is where an integrated retention platform can be more efficient.

What Is App Fatigue?

App fatigue is the cumulative cost and complexity that result from managing multiple apps that each handle one part of the customer lifecycle. Symptoms include:

• Multiple billing lines for features that could be centralized.
• Data silos: wishlist activity in one app, loyalty points in another, reviews in a third.
• Duplicate or conflicting customer touchpoints (e.g., too many emails).
• Higher engineering and support overhead for theme compatibility and maintenance.

Addressing app fatigue reduces operational friction and helps merchants focus on growth metrics such as customer retention, average order value (AOV), and lifetime value (LTV).

Growave’s "More Growth, Less Stack" Approach

A single integrated platform for retention combines loyalty, referrals, wishlists, and reviews into one product, lowering complexity and improving data cohesion. Growave positions itself around that idea.

Growave offers an integrated suite where wishlist behavior contributes to loyalty, review requests, and referral incentives without managing separate apps for every function. For merchants evaluating consolidation, it is useful to consider how much of the retention roadmap can be covered by one platform and how that affects operational cost and growth outcomes.

Explore how to consolidate retention features by reviewing Growave’s pricing and plans: consolidate retention features.

Core Advantages of an Integrated Platform

• Unified customer profiles: wishlist actions, loyalty points, and referral activity feed into a single profile, enabling better segmentation and smarter incentives.
• Fewer monthly bills: consolidating can produce better value for money than the sum of many small apps.
• Consistent branding and email strategy: maintain a single voice across reminders, loyalty notifications, and review requests.
• Centralized reporting: measure retention, repeat purchase rate, and the impact of wishlist-driven campaigns in one place.

See how merchants can consolidate features and pricing in one platform: consolidate retention features.

Growave Feature Highlights

Growave packages multiple retention tools that commonly force merchants to install standalone apps:

• Loyalty and Rewards: customizable programs, points for actions, and VIP tiers that increase repeat purchases. Learn how to build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• Reviews & UGC: automate review collection, showcase customer photos, and integrate social proof across product pages. Merchants can collect and showcase authentic reviews.
• Wishlist: wishlist widget with sharing and integration into loyalty campaigns so wishlist activity can trigger rewards.
• Referrals and VIP tiers: referral incentives and VIP-based boosts to LTV.
• Integrations with major ESPs, helpdesk, and commerce tools, reducing the need to build custom connectors.

For merchants who want to use wishlist activity to power loyalty incentives, Growave makes it straightforward to reward wishlisting or convert wishlist behavior into targeted campaigns. See how loyalty programs can be configured: loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.

Growave also supports review workflows—use wishlist signals to identify customers likely to review or to amplify UGC after a sale. That capability is explained in the reviews product page: collect and showcase authentic reviews.

Integration and Onboarding Considerations

• Install Growave via the Shopify App Store for a quick setup and sample workflows: install via the Shopify App Store.
• Compare plan tiers to match expected order volume and desired customization: consolidate retention features.
• Enterprise or high-volume merchants can explore Shopify Plus-specific features and custom support paths: solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Practical onboarding steps:

• Start on a trial or entry plan to validate wishlist → loyalty conversion paths.
• Use pre-built integrations with Klaviyo or Omnisend to bridge existing email programs and migrate important automation.
• Leverage a centralized support and success team to minimize theme or checkout conflicts.

Install through the Shopify App Store for a hands-on evaluation: install via the Shopify App Store.

How an All-in-One Platform Solves Limitations Noted in ESC and Listr

• ESC lacks automation and analytics — Growave captures wishlist events and uses them to trigger loyalty actions, review requests, and email campaigns.
• Listr provides automation but remains a single-point solution — Growave offers automation plus loyalty, referrals, and reviews in the same stack so wishlist signals aren’t siloed.
• Consolidation reduces duplicate emails and conflicting incentives because all customer touchpoints are coordinated in one platform.

Compare pricing and decide whether consolidation delivers better business ROI: consolidate retention features.

Customer Examples and Inspiration

To see how other merchants have consolidated tools and improved retention with a unified platform, review customer stories and examples: customer stories from brands scaling retention.

Practical Decision Framework: Which Path to Choose?

When choosing between ESC, Listr, and an integrated platform like Growave, consider these merchant-centric questions:

• What is the immediate need?
  • If the need is a simple cart save-for-later, a small app like ESC might be sufficient.
  • If the need is automated reminders and price-drop emails, Listr provides built-in automation at a modest price.
• What is the long-term retention roadmap?
  • If the roadmap includes loyalty, referrals, and reviews, an integrated platform reduces tool sprawl and creates unified data.
• How important is deliverability and email control?
  • If the store requires enterprise deliverability and desire to control branding/email routing through an ESP, confirm whether the wishlist app integrates with that ESP or provides exports.
• What is the total cost and operational overhead?
  • Add up monthly fees, integration costs, and maintenance. Consolidation often yields better value for money when multiple retention touchpoints are required.

A merchant with modest needs and a tight budget may start with a single-purpose app and upgrade later. However, the time and expense of migrating data and reconfiguring automation should be part of the calculus.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between ESC Wishlist + Save for Later and Listr: Wishlist + Reminder, the decision comes down to scope and automation needs. ESC’s offering is simple and cart-focused and might be sufficient for stores that only want a save-for-later UI. Listr delivers more features for re-engagement — guest wishlists, shareable links, analytics, recurring reminders, and price-drop notifications — offering stronger value for money at a comparable monthly price. However, both are single-purpose apps, and merchants should weigh the potential for tool sprawl as retention needs grow.

As an alternative, an integrated retention platform reduces app fatigue by combining wishlist functionality with loyalty, reviews, and referrals. Merchants interested in consolidating retention features and simplifying their tech stack can compare plans and see how consolidation affects costs and capabilities by reviewing Growave pricing: consolidate retention features.

Explore how loyalty can be used to turn wishlist behavior into repeat purchases: loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases. Learn how reviews and UGC amplify social proof across product pages: collect and showcase authentic reviews. Merchants can also evaluate Growave on the Shopify App Store if preferred: install via the Shopify App Store.

Start a 14-day free trial to experience how a unified retention stack improves conversion, loyalty, and customer lifetime value: consolidate retention features.

FAQ

Q: Which app is better for a small store on a tight budget? A: If the requirement is strictly a save-for-later widget at checkout with minimal setup, ESC Wishlist + Save for Later (priced at $5/month) is a low-cost option. Listr’s Free plan may also be worth evaluating for limited use. For stores that want automation and analytics without multiple apps, an integrated platform may be a better value for money over time.

Q: Which app provides automated emails and price-drop alerts? A: Listr: Wishlist + Reminder includes built-in daily/weekly/monthly reminder emails and price-drop notifications (available fully on the Premium plan). ESC does not advertise built-in email automation and appears focused on on-site save-for-later behavior.

Q: How important are reviews and ratings when choosing between these apps? A: Ratings and review counts are useful signals of adoption and support quality. Listr has 27 reviews with a 4.3 rating, indicating generally positive merchant experiences. ESC has 2 reviews and a 1-star rating, which suggests caution; merchants should read recent feedback and test the app before committing.

Q: How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps? A: An all-in-one platform centralizes wishlist data with loyalty, referrals, and reviews, reducing tool sprawl, simplifying billing, and enabling cohesive campaigns that use wishlist behavior to drive rewards or review prompts. Integrated solutions trade off the ability to pick best-of-breed single features for better cross-channel coordination and operational simplicity. For merchants scaling retention, consolidation often produces better long-term ROI.