Email Marketing for Shopify: Setup, Flows & What to Automate
Most Shopify stores leave email revenue on the table. Here's how to set up the flows that actually drive repeat purchases.
Jakob Sperber
Director
Retention
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Most Shopify stores spend the bulk of their budget acquiring customers, then do almost nothing to bring them back. Email sits there — owned, predictable, and cheap — waiting to be used properly.
For Shopify stores doing $30k+ per month, email is consistently the highest-ROI retention channel: $36–$42 return per dollar spent. The reason is simple: you already paid to acquire these people. Email lets you sell to them again without paying a platform tax.
Why Klaviyo
We recommend Klaviyo for every Shopify store. The Shopify integration is native and deep — product data, purchase history, browse behaviour, and cart events all sync automatically. Every flow we cover depends on accurate event data, and Klaviyo handles that out of the box.
The 5 Essential Automated Flows
1. Welcome Series
4–5 emails over 7–10 days:
Email 1 (immediate): Deliver whatever you promised — the discount code, the guide. One CTA.
Email 2 (day 2): Introduce your brand. Why you exist, what makes you different.
Email 3 (day 4): Social proof. Reviews, UGC, press mentions.
Email 4 (day 6): Address objections. Ingredients, durability, sizing — whatever stops people buying.
Email 5 (day 8–10): Urgency on the original offer. Suppress purchasers and move them to post-purchase.
2. Abandoned Cart
Full breakdown in our abandoned cart emails guide. Short version: Email 1 (1 hour, reminder, no discount), Email 2 (24 hours, social proof), Email 3 (48–72 hours, final nudge, small incentive if margins allow).
3. Post-Purchase
This is where most stores drop the ball. A strong post-purchase flow drives repeat purchases:
Day 1–2: Order confirmation, what to expect, reduce buyer's remorse
Day 5–7: Education. How to get the most from the product.
Day 10–14: Cross-sell based on purchase. Understanding upselling vs cross-selling matters here.
Day 14–21: Review request. Direct link, one click.
4. Winback
Re-engage lapsed customers. Triggers based on your retention rate data:
60 days: Soft re-engagement with product recommendations
90 days: New products, restocks, or modest incentive
120 days: Final attempt. If no engagement, move to sunset segment.
5. Browse Abandonment
Targets people who viewed products but didn't add to cart. Softer touch than cart abandonment:
2–4 hours: "Still thinking about [product]?" with reviews
24 hours: Show alternatives in the same category
Maximum two emails. Set a frequency cap.
Segmentation Basics
RFM segmentation (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) groups customers by how recently and often they buy. Purchase behaviour segments by what they bought. Engagement level separates active vs disengaged subscribers — critical for deliverability.
Start with engaged vs. disengaged, and VIPs vs. everyone else.
Campaign Strategy
Weekly (1–2 per week to engaged): New products, educational content, customer stories, time-sensitive offers.
Monthly (broader list): Brand updates, roundups, re-engagement campaigns.
Don't blast everyone at the same rate. Disengaged subscribers getting three emails a week will unsubscribe or mark you as spam.
Metrics That Matter
Revenue per recipient — your north star
Click rate over open rate (open rates are unreliable since Apple MPP)
List growth rate — net of unsubscribes
Flow revenue as % of total email revenue — should be 40–50%+
Common Mistakes
Over-sending without segmentation. Tanks deliverability.
No segmentation at all. First-time visitors and five-time buyers getting the same message.
Discounting in every email. Trains customers to never pay full price.
Ignoring post-purchase. The sale isn't the end of the journey.
Not cleaning the list. Dead subscribers hurt sender reputation. Run a sunset flow for 90–120 day non-engagers.
Where to Start
Abandoned cart flow — highest immediate revenue impact
Welcome series — converts new subscribers while intent is high
Post-purchase flow — builds repeat purchase behaviour
Winback flow — recovers lapsed customers
Browse abandonment — captures lower-intent traffic
Get the first three running before you worry about campaign cadence. Flows do the heavy lifting — campaigns are the complement, not the foundation.
