Email marketing for e-commerce: the flows, the campaigns, the inbox
Paid ads get you the first order. Email decides whether there’s a second, third and tenth. It’s the cheapest channel a brand owns, and most stores use a fraction of it: a welcome email, an abandoned cart reminder and a discount blast when sales are slow. This guide covers what a full email program looks like, from the automated flows to campaigns, sale season and deliverability.
Why email matters for paid growth
Every customer you win with ads cost you something. Email is how you earn that back. A customer who orders a second and third time has a much higher lifetime value, which means you can afford to pay more for the first order than competitors who only sell once. That’s the link between email and ads: better retention raises the CAC you can afford. We walk through the math in our e-commerce KPIs guide.
An email program has two parts. Flows are automated emails triggered by what a customer does; they run every day without anyone writing a new email. Campaigns are the emails you send to your list: launches, stories, sales. Flows are the foundation, so start there.
The seven flows every store needs
One flow for every step
Each flow is triggered by what the customer does.
- Welcome: for new subscribers. The most important flow, because it reaches people when their interest is highest.
- Browse abandon: they looked at a product and left. A soft, helpful email: the product, the top question about it, a few reviews.
- Cart and checkout abandon: they were close. Remind them, answer the objection that stopped them, and only add an incentive in the last email, if at all.
- Post-purchase: thank them, show how to get the most out of the product, ask for a review once it has arrived and been used, then suggest the next product.
- Win-back: they haven’t reordered. Time it to how long the product lasts: four weeks for coffee, six months for shoes.
- Sunset: they’ve stopped opening for months. One last email, then stop sending. It protects your deliverability.
One warning about abandoned cart emails: they recover a small share of carts. Fixing why people leave the cart in the first place usually earns more. Reviews near the button, a free-shipping bar, no surprise costs at checkout. Our CRO guide covers that side.
How to write a welcome flow
The welcome flow starts with a promise, usually the pop-up offer. Deliver it right away, then use the next week to build the belief a first order needs.
A 7-day welcome flow
Five emails, each with one job.
Two details matter more than they seem. First, the pop-up and the first email have to say the same thing: if the pop-up promises 10%, the email leads with 10%. Second, during a sale, update the pop-up and the welcome flow to match the live offer. A visitor who sees “10% off” in the pop-up while the site runs 25% off feels tricked, and leaves.
What good emails look like
Four emails, four jobs
Designed, plain text, promotional and replenishment.
Why our leggings stay up through every squat: a 4-way knit and a wider waistband.
Hi Sarah,
I noticed you looked at the trail runners but didn’t order. Was it the size? Most people who wear 39 in other brands take 39 in ours too.
Just reply, I read every answer.
Anna
It’s been 4 weeks since your last bag. Most people reorder about now.
Or subscribe and save 10%.
- One email, one job. One main message and one main button. A newsletter with eight links gets fewer clicks than an email with one.
- Mix designed and plain text. Designed emails show the product; plain-text emails from a real person feel personal and often land in the main inbox instead of promotions.
- Write the subject and preview as a pair. The subject earns the open, the preview makes it specific.
- Mobile first. Most emails are opened on a phone. Big text, a button you can tap with a thumb, images that load fast.
The inbox view
What your flows look like from the customer’s side.
Campaigns that sell without a discount every week
Discounting in every campaign trains customers to wait for the next one. A good campaign calendar mixes emails that sell with emails that give people a reason to keep opening:
- Product stories: how it’s made, why it works, what’s different about it.
- Customer stories and reviews: one customer, one result, in their words.
- How-to emails: how to use, style or care for the product.
- Launches and restocks: new products, colors and honest “back in stock” news.
- Offers: bundles and gifts rather than site-wide percentages. Our AOV offers guide has 22 options.
When you do run a discount, frame it. The same €15 off reads differently as a “golden ticket” with a deadline, or as a digital gift card loaded to their account, than as another “10% off” subject line. It feels like a gift instead of a markdown.
Sale season: build the flows around the offer
Black Friday is when email earns the most, and when the most mistakes happen. Three things to do before it starts:
- Customize the flows to the sale. Welcome, browse and cart emails should mention the live offer. The flows reach more people in sale season than any campaign, so leaving them on the everyday message wastes the traffic.
- Warm up the list before the big sends. A week or two before the sale, send an email built for engagement: a question to reply to, a vote, a sneak peek. Send it to your most engaged subscribers first. Replies and opens tell inbox providers people want your emails, which helps the sale emails land in the inbox.
- Send more to engaged subscribers, less to the rest. Mailing your whole list five times in a week is how brands end up in spam in December.
More on the full season in our Black Friday guide.
Deliverability: getting into the inbox
An email that lands in spam doesn’t exist. Since 2024, the big inbox providers have required bulk senders to follow a few rules, and ignoring them now costs real revenue:
- Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and send from your own domain, not a shared one.
- One-click unsubscribe in every marketing email.
- Keep spam complaints low: well under 0.3%, ideally below 0.1%.
- Send to people who engage. Segment by recent opens and clicks, and sunset people who haven’t engaged in months.
- Grow the list honestly. No bought lists, no pre-ticked boxes. A pop-up with a clear offer is enough.
Subscriptions and repeat orders
For products people use up, the best email isn’t a campaign at all: it’s the reminder that arrives right when the product runs out, with a one-click reorder. Offer a subscription in the post-purchase and replenishment emails, not only on the product page. And make it easy to delay or change a subscription from the email itself; customers who can push a delivery back cancel less often.
The numbers to track
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Revenue per recipient | The best single number for comparing emails and flows |
| Placed order rate | How many recipients bought |
| Click rate | Whether the email made people act |
| Open rate | A rough signal only; privacy features in some mail apps inflate it |
| Spam complaint and unsubscribe rate | Whether you send too much, or to the wrong people |
| Email share of revenue | How much of the store’s revenue email drives, split into flows and campaigns |
| Repeat purchase rate | The number email exists to move |
Look at flows and campaigns separately. Flows should earn steadily every day; campaigns show whether the list is healthy and engaged.
Common mistakes
- Only sending campaigns, with no flows running in the background.
- A discount in every email, so nobody buys at full price.
- Sale emails to the full list, including people who haven’t opened in a year.
- A pop-up offer that doesn’t match the live sale.
- Welcome emails that keep going after the customer has already bought.
- Judging emails by open rate.
The short version
- Email turns one order into several, which raises the CAC you can afford on ads.
- Set up the seven flows first: welcome, browse, cart, checkout, post-purchase, win-back and sunset.
- One email, one job. Mix designed and plain-text emails.
- In sale season, update the pop-up and flows to the live offer and warm up the list before the big sends.
- Authenticate your domain, keep complaints low, and judge emails by revenue per recipient, not open rate.
FAQ
What email flows does an e-commerce store need?
Seven: a welcome flow for new subscribers, browse abandonment, cart abandonment, checkout abandonment, post-purchase, win-back for customers who haven’t reordered, and a sunset flow for people who stopped engaging. Together they cover every step from sign-up to repeat order.
How many emails should a welcome flow have?
Usually three to five over seven to ten days: the promised offer right away, then best sellers with proof, why the product works, answers to common objections and a reminder before the welcome offer expires. Anyone who buys should leave the flow.
How often should an e-commerce brand send campaigns?
Often enough to stay in mind, usually one to three a week, as long as engagement stays healthy. Send more to recently engaged subscribers and less to the rest, and mix product stories, reviews and how-to content with offers.
What is a good metric for email performance?
Revenue per recipient is the most useful single number for comparing emails and flows. Click rate and placed order rate help explain it. Open rate is less reliable since some mail apps inflate opens for privacy.
How do I stop my emails going to spam?
Authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, include one-click unsubscribe, keep spam complaints well under 0.3%, send mostly to people who opened or clicked recently, and stop emailing people who haven’t engaged in months.
Do abandoned cart emails work?
They recover some carts, but usually a small share. Fixing the reasons people leave the cart, such as surprise costs, missing reviews or an unclear shipping policy, often earns more than the emails themselves. Do both.