Best Email Marketing Flows for Shopify Stores
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways for Shopify stores to increase revenue, encourage repeat purchases and build stronger relationships with customers. It is important to run campaigns to reach customers on a regular basis, but automated email flows can be even more powerful.
Automated email flows can continue to bring in revenue for your Shopify store long after the initial setup. Once the automation has been created, it can continue generating revenue without requiring each email to be sent manually.
Welcome Email Flow
The welcome email flow is triggered by someone joining your mailing list through your website’s pop-up, newsletter or sign-up page. The first email should introduce your brand and give subscribers a clear reason to continue engaging with you. If a discount code was sent to subscribers in order for them to join the mailing list, then this email should be sent straight away.
The most effective email marketing campaigns are sent in a series of emails, and a welcome email is one of the best email flows to send in a series of emails, while there are so many opportunities to introduce your products, explain the USP of your online store, as well as to feature customer testimonials and best sellers.
Abandoned Cart Flow
An abandoned cart email is triggered by a customer adding items to their cart and then leaving your store before completing the checkout process. This could be due to a number of reasons: the customer has become distracted, they are comparing prices at other online stores or they simply need more time to think about their purchase.
There are many reasons why a customer would abandon their shopping cart. But with an abandoned cart flow in email marketing, your Shopify store can convert these interested customers into paying customers.
In the first email you can write a simple reminder of the products that the customer left in the cart. Then, in the subsequent emails, you can add more information about the products that the customer is interested in, customer reviews, answers to frequently asked questions and more. Just be careful not to train your customers to wait for an offer in the final email.
Browse Abandonment Flow
The browse abandonment email is a form of automated email marketing that is triggered by customers who have browsed your online store, viewed particular products and even added them to their online basket, but failed to complete their purchase.
Browse abandonment emails are far more relevant than sending out a general promotional email to your mailing list. The customer has already shown an interest in a particular item.
Post-Purchase Email Flow
The post-purchase flow is for customer experience improvement and for generating more orders from existing customers.
The first email could explain what you are going to do with their order, give them some useful information about the product, or even explain how to get the best out of it.
Later emails can ask customers to review the goods they purchased, offer advice on other products that may be of use and introduce them to other parts of your online store’s range. Automation of post-purchase interaction with customers can help to increase the customer lifetime value of a customer and convert first-time customers into repeat customers.
Customer Win-Back Flow
To get back customers that have stopped buying from your Shopify store, you can create a win-back flow for them. The timing should be based on the normal buying cycle of your products. A business selling regularly purchased consumables may use a relatively short period, while a store selling higher-value products may wait much longer.
These emails contain information on new products, previous purchases that the customer has left in their basket, and personalised recommendations based on the customer’s previous purchases.
Back-in-Stock Email Flow
Products can sell out quickly and this does not mean that you’ve lost a sale. Customers can register to be notified when the product is back in stock.
These emails will immediately notify customers when the product becomes available. These subscribers have already demonstrated strong purchasing intent, which can make back-in-stock emails particularly effective. If a customer does not purchase after the first notification, a follow-up reminder may also help recover the sale.
Review and Feedback Flow
Reviews are social proof for future customers, showing them why other customers have purchased from your Shopify store.
The review request flow waits for 24 hours after delivery of the order and then asks the customer for a review of the products that they’ve purchased. The customer needs sufficient time to have used the products before a review can be written.
These emails can be a great tool to get feedback from customers to understand their experience and to identify areas of improvement for your Shopify products and services.
VIP and Repeat Customer Flow
As with any customer list, not all customers of a store are of equal value. A VIP email programme can be created for the store’s most valuable customers based on factors including order frequency, total spend and customer lifetime value.
VIP customers can be given early access to new products and also sent special promotions to allow them to receive their loyalty rewards and more.
Creating the Right Shopify Email Marketing Flows
A good email marketing strategy for Shopify stores consists of multiple email flows that are linked to each other in the customer journey.
A subscriber might enter a welcome sequence, later receive an abandoned cart email, complete their first purchase and then move into a post-purchase flow. Over time, they could become a repeat customer, enter a VIP segment or eventually receive a win-back campaign.
Once you have set up your email flows, you can test and see how they can generate even more sales from the same amount of traffic, and help increase customer retention and reduce customer acquisition costs for your Shopify store.