How to Improve Email Marketing Results on Shopify

Email marketing delivers one of the strongest returns of any digital channel for retail businesses. The frequently cited benchmark is $36-$42 back for every $1 spent, though actual results depend on list quality, send frequency, and how well you use Shopify’s own customer data. This guide covers the specific tactics that move the needle for Shopify stores, including native tools you may already have access to and the automated flows that drive the most revenue.

Shopify Email: The Built-In Tool You May Be Underusing

Every Shopify plan includes Shopify Email, the platform’s native email marketing tool. It connects directly to your product catalog, customer database, and order history, which means you do not need to sync data between platforms to get started. You get 10,000 free emails per month on every plan; additional sends cost $1 per 1,000 emails.

Shopify Email supports the automations that matter most for new stores: abandoned checkout emails, welcome series for new subscribers, and win-back campaigns for lapsed customers. The templates are minimal but load fast and render correctly on mobile. Where Shopify Email falls short is advanced segmentation and A/B testing. If you need those features at scale, a dedicated Shopify email marketing app is worth looking at once you have outgrown the native tool.

Email ROI Calculator

An email ROI calculator compares the revenue generated from a campaign against the cost of running it, giving you a percentage return for every dollar spent. Use the calculator above to benchmark your campaigns and identify which sends are genuinely profitable.

How the email ROI formula works

1. Enter total revenue from the campaign: Input the revenue directly attributed to your email send (track this via UTM parameters in Shopify Analytics).
2. Input campaign costs: Include email platform fees, design time, and copywriting. Divide your monthly platform cost by the number of campaigns sent that month to get a per-campaign figure.
3. Calculate ROI: The formula is: Email ROI = [(Revenue - Campaign Costs) / Campaign Costs] x 100. A result above 3,600% (the common $36 per $1 benchmark) means you are performing at or above the industry average.

What to do with your ROI number

• If your ROI is below 1,000%, your list quality, segmentation, or offer probably needs work before increasing send volume.
• Compare ROI across campaign types (promotional vs. automated flows). Automated flows almost always outperform one-off blasts because the timing is tied to customer behavior.
• Track ROI month over month. A declining trend usually signals list fatigue or deliverability problems, not just weak creative.

Tip 1: Use Shopify Customer Segments to Personalize at Scale

Generic “dear customer” emails consistently underperform targeted campaigns. Shopify’s built-in customer segmentation lets you filter your list by real purchase behavior without needing a separate CRM. The segments that tend to drive the most email revenue are:

• Ordered in the last 30 days: buyers who are still warm and receptive to cross-sell or product review requests
• Has not ordered: subscribers on your list who have never purchased, good candidates for a first-purchase discount
• High-spend customers (customers with lifetime spend above a threshold you set): your VIPs, who respond well to early access offers and loyalty perks
• Purchased product X: targeted cross-sell, for example, emailing everyone who bought a yoga mat about your new yoga blocks
• At-risk customers: people who used to order regularly but have gone quiet for 90+ days

In Shopify, go to Customers, then Segments to build these filters. Once a segment is saved, you can use it directly as the audience for a Shopify Email campaign. You do not need to export a CSV or manually maintain a list. For a deeper look at how Shopify organizes customer data, see the guide to Shopify Customers and Orders setup.

Tip 2: Set Up the Abandoned Cart Flow First

Abandoned cart emails are the single highest-ROI email automation available to Shopify stores. On average, 70% of shoppers who add items to a cart do not complete the purchase. A well-timed follow-up email recovers a meaningful portion of that revenue with zero additional ad spend.

Shopify Email includes a basic abandoned checkout automation on all plans. The default sends one email about 10 hours after the cart is abandoned. That is a reasonable starting point, but a three-email sequence performs better for most stores:

1. Email 1 (1 hour after abandonment): A simple reminder showing the items left in the cart. No discount yet. Subject line example: “You left something behind.”
2. Email 2 (24 hours after abandonment): Add social proof. Include a customer review for the main product in the cart. Subject line example: “Others love this, too.”
3. Email 3 (72 hours after abandonment): If no purchase, offer a small incentive (5-10% off or free shipping). Subject line example: “Still thinking it over? Here’s a push.”

If Shopify Email’s automation options feel limited for this flow, most of the apps listed in the best Shopify email marketing apps guide offer more granular abandoned cart sequencing with conditional logic based on cart value.

Tip 3: Build a Welcome Series, Not Just a Welcome Email

A single welcome email gets the job done, but a welcome series builds the relationship that leads to a first purchase. New subscribers are most engaged in the first 48-72 hours after signing up. That window is the best time to introduce your brand story, your bestsellers, and a reason to buy.

A simple three-email welcome series looks like this:

• Email 1 (immediately on signup): Deliver whatever you promised (discount code, free guide, etc.). Keep it short. Subject: “Welcome, here’s your [offer].”
• Email 2 (day 2 or 3): Show your bestsellers or most-reviewed products. Let the products do the selling. Subject: “Our customers can’t stop ordering this.”
• Email 3 (day 5-7): Handle the main objection. If people hesitate because of shipping cost, talk about your policy. If they hesitate on fit or quality, share return policy and reviews. Subject: “Still on the fence? Read this.”

Set the series up once in Shopify Email’s automation section (or your chosen app) and let it run. New subscribers enter the flow automatically when they opt in through your Shopify storefront popup or footer form.

Tip 4: Add a Post-Purchase Flow

Most stores stop emailing a customer after the transactional confirmation and shipping notification. That is a missed opportunity. Post-purchase emails sent 7-14 days after delivery have some of the highest open rates of any campaign type because the customer just received your product and is primed to engage.

Three post-purchase emails worth building:

• Product review request (7-10 days after delivery): Ask for a review while the experience is fresh. Link directly to the product page review section. Stores with strong review volume convert better across all traffic sources.
• Cross-sell based on purchase (14 days after delivery): Recommend a complementary product. Shopify’s product metafields and collections make it straightforward to build logic like “bought X, recommend Y.”
• Replenishment reminder (timing varies): If you sell consumables (skincare, supplements, coffee, pet food), a replenishment email timed to the average reorder interval converts extremely well. Check your average order gap in Shopify Analytics under Reports.

Tip 5: Run Re-Engagement Campaigns for Lapsed Subscribers

Email lists decay naturally. Subscribers who were once active stop opening over time, which hurts your overall deliverability because inbox providers use engagement signals to decide whether your emails go to the inbox or spam folder. A re-engagement campaign addresses both the revenue opportunity and the deliverability risk.

Target subscribers who have not opened or clicked in the last 90-180 days. Send a short sequence:

• Email 1: “We miss you” with a simple offer or a highlight of what’s new since they last bought.
• Email 2 (one week later): Last chance message. Tell them you will remove them from the list if they do not engage. This sounds counterproductive but it protects deliverability and often drives a meaningful number of re-opens.

Anyone who still does not engage after two emails should be suppressed (not deleted from Shopify, just removed from the sending list). Smaller, cleaner lists consistently outperform large unengaged ones on open rate, click rate, and inbox placement.

Tip 6: Send at the Right Time (and Test It)

Send time affects open rates, but there is no universal “best time” for every Shopify store. General benchmarks from ecommerce email data show that Tuesday through Thursday outperforms Monday and Friday, and that sends between 10am-12pm or 7pm-9pm local time tend to get higher opens. However, your audience may behave differently.

The only way to know for certain is to test. If your email platform supports send-time optimization (some Shopify email apps do this automatically based on individual subscriber engagement patterns), turn it on. If not, run a manual A/B test: send the same campaign to two equal halves of your list at different times on the same day and track which half generates more clicks and purchases, not just opens.

Tip 7: Write Subject Lines That Get Opened

Subject lines determine whether a subscriber opens or ignores your email. A few principles that consistently work for Shopify stores:

• Keep it under 50 characters. Longer subject lines get cut off on mobile, where most subscribers see email first.
• Lead with the benefit or hook. “50% off ends tonight” works better than “Our summer sale is happening now.”
• Use numbers when relevant. “3 new arrivals you’ll want” outperforms “New arrivals are here.”
• Avoid spam trigger words. “Free,” “Guaranteed,” “Act now,” and excessive punctuation (!!!) can trigger spam filters.
• Test emoji sparingly. One emoji at the start of a subject line can improve open rates; multiple emojis often hurt them.
• Preview text matters. The short snippet shown next to the subject line in the inbox is a second chance to pull someone in. Do not leave it blank.

Tip 8: Grow Your List Through Your Shopify Store

All of the flow and segmentation work above only pays off if you have a quality list to send to. The fastest list growth tactics for Shopify stores are:

• Exit-intent popup: Show a discount offer when a visitor moves their cursor toward the browser’s close button. Shopify has several apps that handle this; it typically converts 2-4% of exiting visitors into subscribers.
• Checkout opt-in: Shopify’s checkout includes a built-in email marketing consent checkbox. Make sure it is enabled in Settings under Checkout.
• Post-purchase opt-in: Customers who just bought are highly likely to want to stay in touch. Shopify’s order confirmation page can include a subscribe prompt.
• Footer form: A simple value proposition (“Get 10% off your first order”) in the footer captures lower-intent visitors who are browsing rather than buying.
• Social + SMS cross-promotion: Promote your email list in your social channels with a specific incentive (a discount, early access to new products, or exclusive content).

Double opt-in (where a subscriber confirms their email address via a follow-up email) adds a step but results in a cleaner list with lower bounce rates. For stores focused on deliverability and engagement rates over raw list size, double opt-in is worth the small drop in sign-up volume. For stores primarily focused on volume, single opt-in with good list hygiene practices is acceptable.

Email Marketing Benchmarks for Shopify Stores

Use these numbers as baselines when evaluating your own campaigns. Ecommerce email benchmarks vary by source and list size, but these are consistent across major studies:

• Average open rate: 18-25% for promotional campaigns; 35-50% for transactional and welcome emails
• Average click-through rate (CTR): 2-5% for promotional campaigns; 5-10% for automated flows
• Average unsubscribe rate: Under 0.5% per send is healthy; over 1% suggests list fatigue or targeting issues
• Abandoned cart recovery rate: 5-15% of abandoned carts result in a recovered sale with a proper email sequence
• Revenue per email: Varies widely by average order value, but $0.10-$0.30 per subscriber per send is a common benchmark for promotional sends

If your open rates are below 15%, focus on list hygiene and segmentation before anything else. Open rates below 15% usually indicate a list with a high proportion of unengaged or invalid addresses, which also suppresses deliverability across your entire account. Pairing email campaigns with Shopify promotional apps can help tie discount codes and offers directly to specific subscriber segments, improving the relevance of each send.