Email Marketing Automation means sending out automated, or triggered, emails to your subscribers based on actions they take or have taken in the past.

Automation emails range from the classic Shopping Cart Abandonment to Replenishment Campaigns, from Browse Abandonment to squeezing a second order from new customers.

95% of companies I’ve worked with, had close to nothing when it comes to automation and every time I heard the same story: “It’s something expensive, right?”, “We started but got lost on the way”, “What is this automation you speak of?”.

Since you are reading this, please know that once you complete these guides, you will be part of the winning 5% that have a serious automation program alive and well.

The reason most Email Marketing Automation programs fail is that the person responsible did not plan ahead. Let’s not be that person!

1. Let’s pick an email service provider

Your tech stack dictates your execution speed. Let us pick an email service provider. I will recommend Klaviyo because it is inexpensive, easy to set up on Magento, Shopify, and Woo, requires no contract, and offers a free trial.

Your tech stack dictates your execution speed. For high-growth brands leveraging Shopify Plus, Klaviyo remains the benchmark for enterprise-grade execution—if you are still auditing your stack, I recommend reviewing our comparison of Klaviyo vs Shopify Email. It transforms complex customer data into measurable profit margins without the overhead of legacy systems. While my earlier guides detailed Magento integrations, the deployment is equally seamless and cost-effective across Shopify and WooCommerce ecosystems.

• I wrote an article about how to implement Klaviyo on Magento but the process is very similar on Shopify and Woo: 5 Things to look for in an Email Marketing Service Provider

2. Build your strategy so that you understand where you are headed

I use Draw.io to build a logic scheme for every client. The base will always be the same, you want to have all your data entry points and all the possible actions a user might take.

You will be able to create the following flows:

1. New Subscribers -> subscribed, no order -> Flow to get him to place the first order
2. New Customer – i.e. placed first order -> Flow to get him to place a second order within 30-45 days
3. Returning customers – placed 2 or more orders -> promote the brand, get reviews, promote to friends and family
4. Cart Abandoners
5. Browse Abandoners
6. Clean up Flows (where you email a super good offer to subscribers that have not been active for 3-6-9-12 months depending on how seasonal your business is)
7. Replenishment Campaigns -> emails shoppers to remind them to replenish their supply of a product that is finite (i.e. laundry detergent)
8. Related Product Campaigns -> emails shoppers as soon as they have placed an order to draw their attention to products that go great with the products they’ve purchased

The eCommerce Today Fractional Team Advantage

Building out these logic trees, designing the creative, mapping the API triggers, and running continuous split tests is a full-time operation. A solo founder or a stretched internal marketing manager cannot realistically manage all these moving parts while also overseeing product development and paid acquisition.

This is where the operator’s mindset comes in. Business outcomes like ROI, profit margins, and customer retention require dedicated focus. Engaging a fractional team of senior developers, conversion rate optimization specialists, and email strategists allows your brand to deploy enterprise-grade systems at a fraction of the cost.

Our team at eCommerce Today acts as an extension of your business. We handle the complexities of data routing and platform integration, ensuring your automated flows are actually driving measurable profit, rather than just looking visually appealing.

Frequently Asked Questions