Introduction

Marketing automation software is an invaluable tool for ecommerce brands and an essential part of any email marketing strategy, allowing them to stay connected to their customers while saving time and money. Regardless of the ecommerce marketing automation software you're using,

In this blog post, we'll look at seven essential email marketing automation flows that every ecommerce brand should have set up.

These include:

• An extended welcome email flow

• Abandoned Browse flow

• Abandoned Cart flow

• Abandoned Checkout flow

• Customized Order Confirmation

• Automatic Review Requests

What is Email Marketing Automation?

Email marketing automation is the process of using software to send predetermined messages to a group of people. This can be done through ecommerce marketing automation platform like MailChimp, Klaviyo, Shopify Email, or other marketing automation platforms. Ecommerce email automation allows you to reach your audience quickly and easily. It's a must-have pairing with your scheduled email marketing campaigns.

Essential Email Marketing Automations To Increase Sales

Extended Welcome Flow

A welcome email is a great way to start off a relationship with a customer. It gives customers an opportunity to get to know your brand, as well as a chance to show off your unique style. This email should include an introduction to your brand, a brief overview of the products and services you offer, and any discounts or incentives you have available.

This sequence will kick off when someone subscribes to your mailing list from your online store, or through lead generation (if you'd like to learn our strategy to generate leads, you can get it here).

Abandonment Emails

Everyone who’s shopped online has received an abandoned checkout email. Shopify turns this on by default. There are two other key automated workflows that Shopify now makes easier than every to add through their updated email marketing platform.

Abandoned Product Browse

The first step down the purchase funnel when a visitor is on your online store is to browse your products and collections. With Shopify’s latest update to their email marketing tools, online store owners can now send follow up emails automatically to any visitor that browses their store, as long as Shopify has some way of deducing their email address. This includes previous abandoned checkouts, signing up for your email list (which is one of the reasons your email sign up form is so important).

Abandoned Cart

Abandoned cart emails are sent to customers who have added items to their cart but have not checked out. This is different than abandoned checkout emails, which are sent to customers who have started the checkout process but have not completed it.

Abandoned Checkout

By default, Shopify stores have an abandoned checkout email set up. What most brands don’t do is stand out from every other brand on Shopify by customizing their abandoned checkout emails, or adding additional reminders after the first message. You can include discounts or exclusive offers, to encourage customers to complete their purchase in those additional emails, a step most brands are not implementing.

Customized Order Confirmation

Out of all the automated email campaigns brands focus on, one often forgetting is their order confirmation.

Order confirmation emails are an important part of the customer experience. This email will include all of the details of the customer's order, such as the items purchased, the shipping address, and the estimated delivery date.

It's also a great opportunity to thank the customer for their purchase, and show off your brand personality. You can add information to your post-order emails (or create a separate automated workflows) that sends new customers a tutorial, so they know how to use the product, and product recommendations that paid well with what they just bought.

Many brands will just send one email, with little more than a tracking number. It’s a great opportunity to stand out.

Review Requests

Reviews are an invaluable asset to your online store. Reviews build trust with potential customers, lessening the perceived risk of buying somewhere new. They also give customers an easy and convenient way to provide feedback, helping brands improve their products and services.

A good review platform will have multiple options for collecting reviews - whether through SMS, multiple emails, incentivized emails, or directly on the product page. You’ll want to give enough time in between the order and when you send the request, so your customer has enough time to experience your product.

Leveraging automation tools to eliminate repetitive tasks for your online business

Automating repetitive tasks in ecommerce can help save time and money, as well as increase efficiency. Automated tasks can include anything from inventory management to customer service communications, order fulfillment and beyond. Ecommerce automation tools also helps improve accuracy, allowing for more accurate customer data and faster response times.'

One of our clients offers certain products as a pre-sold subscription during the holidays. Before discussing with us, the owner would manually send out a certificate for those buying subscriptions that started at a later date. In 2021, she was sending certificates manually on Christmas Eve.

Using the marketing automation tools natively built into Shopify, now every gift order gets a certificate automatically, 2 minutes after purchase.

Conclusion

Email automation is an essential practice for any ecommerce business. By setting up these seven essential automated workflows, you can ensure that your customers are always connected to your brand and that their experience is always top-notch.

Ecommerce automation tools can save brands tons of time when managing their ecommerce business, and sparing them repetitive manual tasks.

Customizing the default emails in your Shopify admin is another way to make your brand stand out, and build a memorable customer experience. Adding additional touch points to your customer journey gives you more opportunity to convert lookers into buyers, keep existing customers engaged and grow your online business.