With the holidays just around the corner, it’s important for eCommerce sites to reach out to their customers. Email is one of the easiest ways to do that. I’m sure most of you eCommerce sites out there are familiar with email marketing– you send them out when you have new items in stock, or have a great deal happening. However, there are emails you can be sending as an eCommerce store that will build a strong relationship with your customers, and hopefully gain their consistent business.
The Greeting Email
Make a great first impression by sending an email to a new customer when they first sign up with their site. It not only makes sure that their email address is valid, but it also gives you a chance to introduce yourself. A simple “hello” could suffice, but we suggest digging a little deeper. Give your potential new customer something to look forward to, such as a reward. For instance you could do something along the lines of, “we appreciate your subscription, use this code to get free shipping on your next order”. You’re not just reaching out personally to the customer, but giving them incentive to utilize your eCommerce store.
The Recently Purchased Email
After every purchase a customer makes on your eCommerce store, it is obvious to send a follow up confirmation email that includes the details of the order and possible tracking information. This is a missed opportunity to showcase more of what you have! In this email you can link to products that they might be interested in buying based off of what they purchased. I know I personally enjoy when an eCommerce clothing store sends me things in an email of things I might like – it’s like they did the shopping for me. Or, for example, say you recently bought a television online and send the confirmation email. It would be helpful to include a deal for a TV stand or TV mount as well so they go back to your site and possibly purchase one. You’re thinking ahead for them.
The Birthday Email
Birthday emails are a fantastic way to garner a better relationship with your customers. It feels incredibly personal because, well, it is! A customer’s birthday is their special day. When an eCommerce store reaches out and offers a birthday deal like automatic 15% off the entire order or a special gift included, it’s enticing. Customers will appreciate that you thought of them, and will feel more inclined to treat themselves.
The Inactive & Active Email
Typically, wait at least three months to reach out to your inactive customers. Send them an email stating how you miss them and offer a reward, like$10 off their next purchase over $50. It’s not that you’re rewarding them for being inactive, you’re just enticing them to become active again. On the other hand, those who are extremely active on your eCommerce store, shouldn’t go unnoticed! Offer them something as well, like a free trial for an expensive service, or a “BOGO” deal. They’ll recognize you appreciate their consistent business and will work with them to retain them as a customer.
As mentioned earlier, with the holidays around the corner it’s important to reach out to your eCommerce customers. If you need assistance with your eCommerce email marketing, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at 1Digital Agency. We’re genius eCommerce and we’re here to help you. Feel free to contact us at our toll free number 888-982-8269 or send us an email at info@1digitalagency.com
Turn these emails into automated flows, not one-off sends
The five email types above are the right list. The leap that actually compounds revenue is making each one an automated lifecycle flow triggered by behavior, not a manual broadcast. Here is how each maps to a trigger and what to measure:
- Greeting → welcome series. Trigger on signup. Two or three emails: the incentive, the brand story / best sellers, and a soft nudge if the code is unused. Welcome flows consistently outperform regular campaigns on open and revenue per recipient because intent is highest right after signup.
- Recently purchased → post-purchase + cross-sell. Trigger on order. Confirmation first, then a complementary-product email timed to the delivery window (the TV-stand example is exactly right), then a review request a week after delivery.
- Birthday → annual automation. Collect the date at signup or in the account; send the offer a few days before with a real expiry to create urgency.
- Inactive → win-back flow. Trigger when a customer crosses your churn threshold (often 2–3x the average purchase interval, not a fixed 90 days for every store). Escalate: a "we miss you," then social proof or new arrivals, then the strongest offer.
- Active → VIP / loyalty recognition. Trigger on order count or lifetime spend. Early access and unexpected perks beat discounts here — you are protecting margin on people who already buy.
The abandoned-cart flow this list is missing
The single highest-ROI eCommerce email is not on the original list: the abandoned-cart sequence. A three-message flow — a reminder within an hour, a help/objection-handling message the next day, an incentive on day two or three — recovers revenue that would otherwise be lost entirely. If you ship only one automation, ship this one. An abandoned-browse flow (viewed a product, did not add to cart) is the natural next step.
Practical guardrails so these emails help instead of annoy
- Segment. Do not send the win-back offer to someone who bought yesterday. Suppression rules between flows prevent the deliverability damage that kills the whole program.
- Mind frequency. Overlapping flows can stack three emails in a day. Set a global frequency cap.
- Measure revenue per recipient, not just open rate. Opens have become an unreliable metric; revenue and click-to-order are the honest signals.
- Protect deliverability. Authenticate your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and proactively sunset chronically unengaged addresses so your good emails reach the inbox.
What to put in each email so it actually converts
The trigger gets the email sent; the content decides whether it earns a sale. A few specifics that consistently outperform:
- One primary call to action. Every email should ask for exactly one thing. A welcome email that asks the reader to shop, follow social, read the blog, and refer a friend gets none of them done.
- Lead with the customer, not the catalog. "Here's the most common mistake people make choosing X" outperforms "Check out our new arrivals" because it earns the click before it asks for the sale.
- Real urgency, used sparingly. A genuine expiry on a birthday or win-back offer lifts conversion; a permanent "ends tonight!" on every email trains people to ignore you.
- Design for the phone and the preview pane. Most opens are mobile. The subject line, preheader, and first screen have to carry the message even if no images load.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I email customers? Often enough to stay top of mind, not so often that you train people to unsubscribe. Let engagement guide it: engaged segments tolerate more, and a global frequency cap should prevent overlapping flows from stacking several emails in one day.
Won't automated emails feel impersonal? The opposite, when they are behavior-triggered. An email that references the exact product someone abandoned, or arrives the week their order is delivered, feels more personal than a generic monthly blast — because it is genuinely relevant to what the customer just did.
What is the fastest email win for a store with nothing automated? Ship the abandoned-cart sequence first, then a welcome series, then post-purchase. Those three flows capture the highest-intent moments and typically generate a disproportionate share of email revenue relative to the effort to build them.
Built well, these flows run continuously and become some of the most profitable revenue in the business. We design and build exactly these sequences in our eCommerce email marketing work — contact us to map your lifecycle.