How to Use Shopify Email Marketing to Increase Sales

Why Email Marketing Remains the Highest-ROI Channel for Shopify Stores

Shopify email marketing consistently delivers the highest return on investment of any marketing channel available to e-commerce stores — industry benchmarks show email generating $36-$42 for every $1 invested, significantly outperforming paid social ($2-5 ROAS), paid search ($3-7 ROAS), and organic social (difficult to measure directly but typically modest). The fundamental reason email outperforms: you own the relationship. A Facebook algorithm change doesn’t deplete your email list; a TikTok account ban doesn’t eliminate your customer database. An email list of 10,000 engaged subscribers is a direct, algorithm-independent business asset that compounds in value as the list grows and deepens its engagement with your brand.

This guide covers how to use Shopify email marketing to increase sales — from platform selection and list building to the automation sequences, segmented campaigns, and measurement practices that transform email from a broadcast tool into your highest-performing revenue channel.

Step 1: Choose Your Shopify Email Marketing Platform

Platform selection determines your email marketing capabilities for years — choose based on where you need to be, not where you are today:

• Klaviyo — the industry-leading email platform for Shopify, with native integration that syncs all customer purchase data, browsing behavior, and custom properties in real-time. Advanced segmentation, predictive analytics, built-in A/B testing, SMS integration, and pre-built Shopify flow templates. Best choice for stores doing $200K+ annually or planning aggressive email-driven growth. From $20/month.
• Omnisend — email plus SMS plus push notifications on one platform, with strong e-commerce automation and Shopify integration. Competitive with Klaviyo for stores prioritizing multi-channel marketing at lower price points. From $16/month.
• Shopify Email — Shopify’s native email tool, free for basic use. Reads directly from Shopify customer data, suitable for basic newsletters and simple automations. Significantly less powerful than Klaviyo for segmentation and automation but has zero additional cost for stores on any paid Shopify plan.
• Drip — e-commerce focused email automation with strong visual workflow builder and Shopify integration. Good alternative to Klaviyo for stores that prefer Drip’s interface and pricing structure. From $39/month.

Step 2: Build Your Email List

An email marketing program is only as good as the list it sends to — building a high-quality, engaged list is the foundation:

• Homepage popup with compelling offer — a timed or exit-intent popup offering a meaningful first-purchase incentive (10-15% off, free shipping, exclusive content) in exchange for email signup captures a significant percentage of browsing visitors who would otherwise leave without identifying themselves. Configure popup timing (15-30 seconds on site) or exit intent to maximize capture without immediately annoying new visitors. Strong popup copy focuses on the benefit to the subscriber, not the transaction: “Get early access to new arrivals + 10% off your first order” outperforms “Sign up for our newsletter.”
• Checkout email capture — Shopify captures email at checkout from all buyers, automatically adding purchase-confirmed email contacts to your marketing list (with appropriate consent collection). Buyers who complete purchase are the highest-quality subscribers — they’ve demonstrated purchase intent and interest in your products through action.
• Embedded signup forms — footer forms, dedicated “Join Our Community” pages, and content-embedded forms capture email from visitors who prefer opt-in without popup interruption. Embedded forms consistently convert less than popups but build a list of more self-selected, higher-engagement subscribers.
• Lead magnet content — offer valuable downloadable content (buying guide, care instruction PDF, recipe collection, sizing guide) in exchange for email signup. Lead magnets that are genuinely useful to your target audience capture higher-quality subscribers than pure discount offers, because the subscriber self-identifies as someone who wants to engage with your brand’s expertise, not just collect discounts.

Step 3: Set Up Core Automation Flows

Email automation — messages triggered by specific customer actions or timing — generates revenue continuously without ongoing manual effort. Automations should be built before you focus on campaign volume:

• Welcome series (3-5 emails over 7-14 days) — triggered when someone subscribes. Email 1: welcome + brand story + first-purchase incentive fulfillment. Email 2 (2-3 days later): product education or “most popular products.” Email 3 (5-7 days later): social proof (reviews, community, UGC). Email 4 (day 10): last reminder of first-purchase offer if unused. Welcome sequences convert 3-5x better than single welcome emails because they build the brand relationship progressively rather than overwhelming the new subscriber with everything at once.
• Abandoned cart sequence (3 emails over 24-48 hours) — triggered when a buyer adds to cart but doesn’t complete checkout. Email 1 (1 hour later): gentle reminder with cart contents. Email 2 (24 hours later): address potential objections (return policy, security, FAQs). Email 3 (48 hours later): optional small incentive to complete purchase. Abandoned cart sequences recover 5-15% of abandoned carts — among the highest ROI automations available because you’re re-engaging buyers who were within a click of purchasing.
• Post-purchase sequence (3-5 emails over 30 days) — triggered after first purchase. Order confirmation (day 0): shipping information, order details, what to expect. Product care/use guide (day 3-5): how to get the most from their purchase. Review request (day 10-14): when the buyer has had time to use the product. Cross-sell recommendation (day 21-28): complementary products based on what they bought. These automations drive second purchase from first-time buyers — the highest-impact retention opportunity available.
• Win-back sequence (3-4 emails over 60-90 days) — triggered when a previously active buyer hasn’t purchased in 90+ days. Remind lapsed buyers of what they loved, what’s new, and provide an incentive to return. Win-back sequences recover 10-20% of at-risk customers at very low cost relative to acquiring new ones.

Step 4: Create High-Performing Email Campaigns

Beyond automation, scheduled campaigns drive revenue around product launches, promotions, and seasonal moments:

• New product launch campaigns — announce new products to your existing customer base before public launch. Segment by purchase history to show new products relevant to each segment’s proven interests. New product launches to warm lists consistently outperform cold advertising for initial sales velocity.
• Promotional campaigns — seasonal sales, flash promotions, and limited-time offers. Keep promotional email frequency appropriate to your brand positioning — premium brands should limit discount emails to 3-4 per year to avoid training buyers to wait for sales; value-oriented brands can run weekly promotional emails without the same brand risk.
• Educational content campaigns — non-promotional emails that provide genuine value (care guides, use tutorials, industry education, curated content relevant to your buyer’s interests). Educational campaigns improve deliverability metrics (higher open rates from engaged recipients signal to email providers that your content is wanted) and build brand authority that improves conversion on subsequent promotional emails.
• UGC and social proof campaigns — emails featuring customer photos, top-rated reviews, and community highlights. Social proof emails leverage your best customer testimonials and photographs to influence less-decided buyers who are on the consideration side of the conversion curve.

Step 5: Segment for Better Performance

Segmented campaigns consistently outperform broadcast emails in open rate, click rate, and conversion rate:

• VIP segment campaigns — send exclusive early access, special offers, and personalized attention to your top 10% by lifetime value. VIPs convert at 3-5x the rate of general list broadcasts and have the highest propensity for larger order values.
• Product category segments — send campaigns featuring products relevant to each subscriber’s proven purchase category. A buyer who only purchases outdoor products should receive outdoor-focused campaigns, not kitchen product promotions they’ve never engaged with.
• Engagement-based segments — send higher frequency to highly engaged subscribers (who open consistently), lower frequency to less engaged (who rarely open). Matching send frequency to engagement level improves overall list health and deliverability metrics.
• New subscriber segment — new subscribers should receive the onboarding/welcome sequence rather than jumping into your general promotional calendar immediately. Respect the welcome sequence before adding new subscribers to broadcast campaigns.

Step 6: Measure and Optimize Email Performance

Email performance measurement drives continuous improvement:

• Open rate benchmarks — e-commerce email open rates average 20-25%; engagement-segmented lists average 30-40% for active subscribers. Open rates below 15% indicate list quality issues (too many unengaged subscribers) or subject line problems. Open rates above 40% indicate excellent list quality and subject line relevance.
• Revenue per email sent — the most important email marketing metric is revenue generated divided by emails sent. Automation flows typically generate $0.50-$5.00+ per email sent (high because of targeting relevance); broadcast campaigns generate $0.10-$1.00 per email sent. Rising revenue per email sent indicates improving segmentation and content relevance.
• Subject line A/B testing — test subject line variations systematically (question vs. statement, with vs. without emoji, specific vs. general, personalized vs. generic) and apply winning patterns to future campaigns. Most email platforms support A/B testing where you send two subject line variations to 20% of the list and automatically send the winner to the remaining 80%.
• Deliverability monitoring — monitor spam complaint rate (should be below 0.08%), bounce rate (hard bounces should be suppressed immediately), and unsubscribe rate (above 0.5% per campaign suggests content misalignment or frequency over-sending). Google Postmaster Tools and email platform deliverability dashboards surface reputation issues before they damage inbox placement across your entire list.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I send marketing emails on Shopify?

Email frequency best practices for Shopify stores: frequency should match your content quality and audience expectations. Premium brands: 1-2 emails per week maximum (lower frequency signals selectivity and keeps each email’s perceived value high). Value-oriented or high-frequency purchase brands: 3-5 emails per week for engaged subscribers is sustainable if content remains genuinely relevant. Universal principle: send when you have something worth saying, not because it’s “email day.” Frequency that degrades engagement metrics (lower open rate, higher unsubscribe) is too high for your audience and list quality. Engagement-based frequency (more emails to highly engaged subscribers, fewer to less engaged) is more sophisticated and typically outperforms one-size-fits-all frequency decisions. Start at 1-2 per week; monitor engagement metrics; adjust based on what your specific audience’s behavior tells you.

What is a good email open rate for Shopify stores?

Shopify email open rate benchmarks: industry average for e-commerce email is 20-25% open rate (with Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflating open rates by 15-20% above actual opens for lists with high Apple device users — adjust benchmarks accordingly). Automation flows (welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase) typically achieve 40-60% open rates because of high relevance and timing. Broadcast promotional campaigns typically achieve 18-30% for well-maintained lists. Segments of highly engaged subscribers (opened in the last 60 days) will open at 35-50%; segments of less engaged subscribers will drag overall open rate below average. Focus on click rate and revenue per email sent as primary performance indicators — these are harder to game and more directly tied to business outcomes than open rate alone.

How do I improve email deliverability for my Shopify store?

Email deliverability improvement for Shopify: 1) Authenticate your sending domain — set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for your sending domain in your email platform settings (Klaviyo, Omnisend provide step-by-step instructions); 2) Use a custom sending domain (yourbrand.com instead of the email platform’s generic domain) — custom domains build sender reputation tied to your brand; 3) Suppress hard bounces and unsubscribes immediately — sending to bounced or unsubscribed addresses harms reputation; 4) Sunset chronically unengaged subscribers (no open in 6+ months) — sending to large unengaged audiences signals to ISPs that your content is unwanted; 5) Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines (“FREE,” “ACT NOW,” excessive punctuation); 6) Maintain list hygiene with regular cleaning of invalid addresses; 7) Ramp up sending volume gradually when starting a new domain — don’t immediately send 100,000 emails from a new sending domain; warm it up over 4-6 weeks with increasing volume.

What should I include in a Shopify welcome email?

Shopify welcome email best practices: immediately deliver the promised incentive (if you offered 10% off for signup, the discount code should be in the first email — delay destroys trust). Lead with brand story and value proposition — why should this subscriber care about your brand? What makes it worth their attention? Include your most popular or best-reviewed products as navigation options. Set expectations for what future emails will contain and at what frequency. Use the subject line to establish brand voice: “Welcome to [Brand] — here’s everything you need to know” or “Your exclusive [Brand] discount is inside” depending on your positioning. For welcome series (multiple emails): space them 2-3 days apart; escalate from brand story → product education → social proof → urgency reminder. Open rates for welcome emails average 50-60% — higher than almost any other email type — so invest disproportionately in welcome email quality, as it sets the tone for the entire subscriber relationship.

How do I grow my Shopify email list fast?

Fast email list growth strategies for Shopify: popup optimization is the highest-volume single tactic — a well-configured popup with compelling offer converts 3-5% of site traffic to subscribers (1,000 monthly visitors = 30-50 new subscribers from popup alone). Giveaway campaigns (enter your email to win, share for extra entries) can generate significant subscriber volume quickly but often produce lower-engagement subscribers than organic capture — use with awareness of list quality tradeoff. Referral-to-subscribe programs (existing subscribers who refer a friend who subscribes both receive rewards) leverage social networks for list growth. Social media “link in bio” for email signup with compelling offer description targets engaged social followers who may not have visited your site. Paid social ads driving to dedicated landing pages with email capture offer (optimized for email lead conversion rather than product sales) is the fastest way to grow a list from existing traffic channels. Quality matters as much as quantity — a small engaged list generates more revenue than a large unengaged list built through low-quality tactics.

Final Thoughts

Shopify email marketing delivers exceptional ROI because it compounds — every subscriber added builds list equity, every automation flow runs continuously in the background generating revenue, and every improvement to content and segmentation quality multiplies across every future send. The investment in building the right platform infrastructure, building list quality rather than just quantity, and building automation flows before campaign volume creates a compounding email channel that grows revenue month over month without proportionally increasing the effort required. Start with the foundational automations (welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase), build your list through quality-first capture tactics, segment thoughtfully for relevance, and measure revenue per email sent as your primary success metric — email marketing built on these principles becomes the most valuable marketing asset a Shopify store owns.

For more on Shopify marketing strategy, explore our guides on customer segmentation for email targeting, abandoned cart optimization, and affiliate marketing integration.