How to Set Up Shopify Email Marketing

Why Email Marketing Is Still the Highest-ROI Shopify Channel

Email marketing consistently delivers the highest return on investment of any digital marketing channel — the industry average is $36-42 return for every $1 invested — because it reaches buyers who have already expressed interest in your brand with personalized communication that goes directly to their inbox. Unlike social media (algorithmic reach of 1-5% of followers), paid advertising (impression-based cost regardless of intent), or SEO (slow to build), email marketing reaches your entire opted-in list directly, every time, at a cost that’s effectively fixed regardless of list size. For Shopify stores, email marketing builds the owned audience that isn’t subject to platform changes, algorithm updates, or rising advertising costs — your email list is a business asset that grows in value as your store grows. This guide covers how to set up Shopify email marketing from scratch — from choosing your platform and building your list to sending your first campaigns and tracking the metrics that matter.

Step 1: Choose Your Shopify Email Marketing Platform

Several platforms integrate directly with Shopify and pull your store’s order data, customer segments, and product catalog into your email tool:

• Klaviyo — the leading email platform for Shopify stores doing meaningful revenue. Klaviyo’s deep Shopify integration pulls complete order history, product catalog, and customer behavior data into highly sophisticated segments and automated flows. Best for stores ready to invest in email as a serious channel. Free up to 250 contacts; from $20/month for up to 500 contacts, scaling with list size.
• Shopify Email — Shopify’s native email tool, included in all plans. Shopify Email works well for basic campaigns (new arrivals, promotions) and has a simple drag-and-drop builder. It lacks the automation sophistication and segmentation depth of Klaviyo — appropriate for stores with simple email needs and budgets that don’t support third-party platforms. Included in Shopify plans with 10,000 free emails/month; additional emails at $1 per 1,000.
• Omnisend — strong mid-market option with better automation than Shopify Email and lower price than Klaviyo at comparable list sizes. Includes SMS and push notification channels alongside email. From free (500 emails/month) to $16/month for 500 contacts.
• Mailchimp — widely used but Shopify integration has been variable in quality; Mailchimp’s strengths are templates and ease of use, but it’s less commerce-specific than Klaviyo for advanced customer journey automation. From free (500 contacts) to $13/month for 500 contacts.

Step 2: Build Your Email List

Your email list is the foundation — without subscribers, there’s no email marketing to do:

• Popup subscription forms — a well-timed popup (delay 5-15 seconds or trigger on scroll or exit intent) offering a first-purchase incentive (10-15% off or free shipping) is the most effective list-building mechanism for new Shopify stores. Use Klaviyo’s popup builder or a dedicated popup app (Privy, OptiMonk). Mobile-optimized popups are essential — 70%+ of your traffic is mobile, and popups that don’t display correctly on mobile lose most of their list-building potential.
• Checkout email capture — collect email addresses at checkout, which Shopify does by default. Ensure you’ve enabled marketing email consent in Shopify checkout settings so checkout email captures are marked as opted-in for marketing. In Shopify admin → Settings → Checkout → Customer accounts → Enable email marketing opt-in checkbox.
• Footer newsletter signup — a persistent newsletter signup in your site footer captures visitors who aren’t ready to buy but want to stay connected. Offer a clear value proposition: “get new arrivals and exclusive offers first.” Footer signups convert at lower rates than popups but accumulate consistently across all page visits.
• Content upgrades and lead magnets — offer valuable content in exchange for email subscription: a sizing guide, a care and maintenance guide, a recipe book for food stores, a style lookbook for fashion. Content lead magnets attract subscribers aligned with your product category, producing a higher-quality list than discount-only captures.
• Post-purchase opt-in confirmation — send new buyers a clear opt-in confirmation for your marketing email list after their first purchase. Buyers who’ve just purchased are in the highest-trust moment — conversion on explicit email marketing opt-in is highest immediately post-purchase.

Step 3: Set Up Your Welcome Email Series

The welcome series is your highest-impact automated email sequence — new subscribers are most engaged in the first 48-72 hours after joining your list:

• Welcome email 1 (immediate) — send immediately after subscription. Deliver the promised incentive (the discount code or lead magnet they signed up for), introduce your brand in 2-3 sentences, and showcase your 3-5 most popular products. Subject line: “Welcome to [Brand] — your [discount/content] is inside.” This email should arrive within minutes of signup — delayed welcome emails lose the engagement momentum of the signup moment.
• Welcome email 2 (day 2-3) — your brand story email. What makes your products different? Who makes them, and how? What value does your brand stand for beyond product features? This email builds the brand connection that transforms a discount-motivated subscriber into a brand-loyal buyer. Product recommendation secondary CTA — “our community’s favorites” featuring review-validated bestsellers.
• Welcome email 3 (day 5-7) — social proof and community. Customer reviews for your most popular products, lifestyle imagery showing your products in use, and invitation to follow your social media or join your community. If the subscriber hasn’t purchased yet, this is often the tipping point email — reviews and community evidence provide the final confidence boost that converts list subscribers into first-time buyers.
• Welcome email 4 (day 10-14) — optional — for subscribers who haven’t purchased after the first three emails, a final incentive reminder (“your discount expires in 48 hours”) with a curated product selection creates last-chance urgency without cheapening the brand relationship built in the first three emails.

Step 4: Set Up Essential Automated Email Flows

Automated email flows run continuously without manual intervention, recovering revenue and building customer relationships at scale:

• Abandoned cart flow — the highest-ROI automated email in e-commerce. Email 1 (1-2 hours after cart abandonment): reminder with the abandoned products, your return policy, and social proof. Email 2 (24 hours): answer common purchase hesitations (free returns, reviews, customer service availability). Email 3 (48-72 hours): final reminder with optional incentive (free shipping or modest discount). Abandoned cart flows recover 5-15% of abandoned carts that would otherwise be permanently lost revenue.
• Post-purchase thank you flow — send 24-48 hours after purchase: acknowledge the order, set expectations for delivery, provide any care or use guidance for the purchased product, and invite a review or social share after their experience. Post-purchase flows build brand connection during the waiting period between purchase and delivery, reducing “where is my order?” inquiries and priming positive review submission.
• Browse abandonment flow — triggered when a subscriber views a product multiple times without adding to cart. Send a personalized email featuring the viewed product with social proof (review snippets) and your return policy. Browse abandonment flows have lower conversion rates than cart abandonment but reach buyers earlier in the consideration process.
• Win-back flow — triggered when a previously active subscriber hasn’t purchased in 90-120 days. 3-4 email sequence that acknowledges the lapse, features new arrivals since their last visit, and offers a win-back incentive if they don’t re-engage. Win-back flows recover 10-20% of lapsed buyers who would otherwise churn permanently.

Step 5: Create Effective Campaign Emails

Beyond automated flows, scheduled campaign emails promote new arrivals, seasonal offers, and brand content:

• Email send frequency — find the frequency that your audience tolerates without excessive unsubscribes. Typically: weekly or bi-weekly for stores with regular new content (new arrivals, seasonal campaigns, editorial content); twice weekly maximum for active promotional periods; monthly for lower-engagement lists where too-frequent email drives unsubscribes. Monitor unsubscribe rates — above 0.5% per email suggests over-sending or relevance issues.
• Subject line best practices — subject lines determine whether your email is opened. Effective patterns: curiosity gaps (“you haven’t seen anything like this”), direct value statements (“new arrivals: 12 styles that just landed”), personalization (“[First Name], you’ll love what just arrived”), and urgency for time-sensitive offers (“ends tonight: 24-hour flash sale”). Test 2 subject line variants (A/B test in your email platform) and use the winner for future sends to the same segment.
• Email design principles — single-column layout (mobile-first); headline + subheadline + CTA above the fold; 2-3 products max per section with larger images; one primary CTA per email (multiple competing CTAs reduce click-through rates); plain text alternative for deliverability. Beautiful email design matters less than a clear CTA, a compelling subject line, and content that’s relevant to the recipient.
• Segmentation for campaigns — send campaign emails to specific segments rather than your entire list. New arrival campaigns to subscribers who’ve purchased in the past 90 days; sale campaigns to price-sensitive buyers (those who used discounts on past purchases); reengagement campaigns to subscribers who haven’t opened in 90 days. Segmented campaigns consistently outperform list-wide broadcasts in open rates, click rates, and conversion rates.

Step 6: Monitor Email Performance Metrics

Email performance measurement identifies what’s working and what needs optimization:

• Open rate — industry average for e-commerce email: 20-25%. Below 15% indicates subject line problems, deliverability issues, or irrelevant content for the segment. Above 35% indicates exceptional relevance or strong relationship with your list.
• Click-through rate (CTR) — percentage of recipients who click a link in the email. E-commerce benchmark: 2-4% for campaigns; automated flows like cart abandonment often achieve 5-15%. Low CTR despite high open rate suggests the email content doesn’t deliver on the subject line promise.
• Revenue per email sent — the most important business metric for e-commerce email. Track total email revenue / total emails sent per period. Benchmarks vary widely by category, list quality, and send frequency — track your own historical baseline and optimize toward improvement.
• Unsubscribe rate — above 0.5% per email send signals over-sending, irrelevant content, or audience mismatch. Below 0.1% is healthy. Rising unsubscribe rates are an early warning that your email content or frequency is eroding list health before significant revenue impact appears.
• Deliverability metrics — spam complaint rate (above 0.1% signals potential inbox placement problems), bounce rate (remove hard bounces immediately), and inbox vs. spam placement (use a service like GlockApps or Mail Tester to check inbox placement for your domain).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best email marketing app for Shopify?

Best Shopify email marketing apps by store stage: for stores just starting email marketing with a small list and basic needs, Shopify Email is included in your Shopify plan and handles basic campaigns without additional cost. For stores doing $50,000+ annually who are ready to invest in email as a primary revenue channel, Klaviyo is the industry-leading platform for Shopify with the deepest integration, most sophisticated segmentation, and most powerful automation builder. For stores wanting more than Shopify Email but not ready for Klaviyo’s pricing, Omnisend provides strong automation and multi-channel (email + SMS) capabilities at mid-market pricing. For stores with primarily transactional email needs (order confirmations, shipping notifications, review requests), Shopify’s built-in notifications plus a review platform (Yotpo, Okendo) may cover needs without a dedicated email marketing platform. The most common progression: Shopify Email (starting out) → Klaviyo (scaling) — the Klaviyo investment typically pays for itself within 30 days as automated flows begin recovering abandoned carts and win-back revenue that previously wasn’t being captured.

How do I grow my Shopify email list quickly?

Shopify email list growth strategies: the fastest list-building methods are popup subscription forms with compelling offers (10-15% off first order or free shipping converts at 2-5% of site visitors to email subscribers); post-purchase opt-in during checkout and order confirmation (capturing buyers who didn’t subscribe pre-purchase); and social media lead generation (Meta Lead Ads that allow Facebook/Instagram followers to subscribe with one click without leaving the platform). Content-based list growth (lead magnets, buying guides, downloadable resources that require email submission) grows slower but produces higher-quality subscribers who are interested in your category, not just your discount. Offline list building for stores with in-person presence (markets, pop-ups, events): collect email at point of sale or via a tablet signup form, then import to your email platform with explicit opt-in confirmation. Key list quality principle: a smaller, engaged list of 2,000 subscribers outperforms a larger, disengaged list of 10,000 in revenue per email — prioritize subscriber quality over subscriber quantity by setting honest expectations for what subscribers will receive and delivering consistently relevant content.

What should my first email campaign be?

First Shopify email campaign recommendations: your first campaign email to a new or small list should be low-stakes and high-value — not a promotional blast but a genuine brand introduction. Recommended first campaign: “Our story and why we’re different” — introduce the people behind the brand, explain what makes your products genuinely worth choosing over alternatives, and feature 3-5 products with brief explanations of why each was created. Avoid making your first email a discount announcement — subscribers who receive value content first (brand story, product expertise, useful information) develop stronger brand loyalty than those who receive a discount first and then later receive brand content that feels like a bait-and-switch. Your welcome series (automatically sent to new subscribers) handles your introduction for each new subscriber; your first broadcast campaign email should treat your existing subscribers as an audience you’re deepening a relationship with, not new visitors who need basic conversion messaging.

How often should I send marketing emails on Shopify?

Shopify email send frequency guidelines: optimal frequency depends on your content quality, list engagement, and product category. Practical starting frequencies: new stores (fewer than 2,000 subscribers) — send when you have something genuinely worth saying (new product launch, seasonal campaign, brand story content) rather than on a forced schedule; established stores with regular content — weekly is the industry-standard frequency for active e-commerce email programs; stores with high-frequency new arrivals (fashion, accessories, seasonal products) — twice weekly is manageable if content quality is consistently high. Signs you’re sending too frequently: rising unsubscribe rates (above 0.3% per send), declining open rates below 15%, increasing spam complaints. Signs you’re sending too infrequently: subscribers who’ve forgotten your brand when you do send (indicated by low engagement on sends after gaps), missed seasonal revenue from buyers who needed a prompt to purchase. Find the cadence where your list engagement metrics (open rates, click rates) remain stable — frequency is correct when these don’t decline over time.

How do I avoid my Shopify marketing emails going to spam?

Email deliverability for Shopify stores: landing in the inbox rather than spam requires both technical setup and content quality. Technical requirements: authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records (Klaviyo and most email platforms provide setup instructions specific to your DNS provider); use a consistent “From” name that recipients recognize (your brand name, not a personal name for brand emails); avoid sending from free email addresses (Gmail.com, Yahoo.com as “from” addresses hurt deliverability). List hygiene: remove hard bounces immediately; suppress contacts who haven’t opened your emails in 6+ months (chronically unengaged contacts hurt your sender reputation even if they haven’t unsubscribed); never purchase email lists (spam complaints from cold lists permanently damage your sender reputation). Content practices: maintain a healthy image-to-text ratio (image-only emails without text trigger spam filters); avoid spam trigger words in subject lines (“free,” “guaranteed,” “act now,” “winner,” “urgent” in isolation); include a visible, working unsubscribe link in every email (legally required under CAN-SPAM in the US, GDPR in the EU). Consistent sending schedule helps inbox placement — irregular senders trigger more spam filter scrutiny than consistent weekly senders.

Final Thoughts

Email marketing is the most direct, most owned, and most cost-efficient revenue channel available to Shopify stores — and setting it up correctly from the beginning creates compounding value as your subscriber list grows. Start with the right platform for your current size and needs, build your list through compelling incentives and convenient capture mechanisms, configure the three essential automated flows (welcome series, abandoned cart, post-purchase), and then build toward regular campaigns that provide genuine value alongside promotional content. The stores that treat email as a relationship-building channel — not just a promotional broadcast mechanism — consistently see higher open rates, higher conversion rates, and higher customer lifetime values than those that use email purely for discount distribution. Invest in email marketing infrastructure early, and it will pay dividends across every other aspect of your store’s growth.

For more on Shopify marketing strategy, explore our guides on email automation flows, customer segmentation, and email capture forms.