The 3 must-have email automations for Shopify

Imagine if you could hire an extra employee to run your Shopify store while you sleep... They would reach out to potential customers at any time of day, generating and directing more traffic to your business. Oh! And all you have to do is train this employee for 10-20 minutes.

It sounds too good to be true, right? With Klaviyo email automation, you essentially get an extra employee on your team—one that never has to sleep, never stops working, and is excellent at generating customers. Who wouldn't want to invest in that? The truth is, you need at least 3 types of automated emails for your Shopify store. We’ll discuss these 3 categories shortly and how they can earn you money while you sleep. But first, let’s discuss the difference between automated emails and ‘regular’ broadcast emails.

Automated Emails vs. Broadcast Emails

Broadcast emails are essentially the emails you send periodically to promote something new and exciting from your brand. Think of monthly newsletters announcing a new product launch, messages promoting an upcoming sales event, or news about a new feature being rolled out.

Don't get me wrong: broadcast emails are absolutely essential when it comes to email marketing. The point is that you don't want to focus solely on broadcast emails. You also need automated emails.

Simply put: automated emails are emails that your subscribers receive automatically based on certain triggers. For example, if a visitor adds a product to their cart but then leaves the shop, they might receive an email reminding them that the product is still in their cart. In this email, you can encourage the visitor to complete the purchase.

Why Automated Emails are So Important

Not long ago, Shopify launched an analytics tab called 'Live View'. Hiermee kan je precies zien hoeveel mensen er momenteel in je store zijn. Bovendien laat het je zien waar deze mensen zich over de hele wereld bevinden...

This allows you to see exactly how many people are currently on your store. Additionally, it shows you where these people are located around the world... It's great. The crazy thing is: it doesn’t matter when you check it; you’ll likely find at least a few visitors on your site—if not a few hundred! That’s the beauty of the internet: it’s open 24/7, 365 days a year. And if you have a Shopify store, then your store is also open 24/7.

The point is that consumers are continuously visiting your website, learning more about your products, adding items to their cart, abandoning purchases, completing orders, etc. Your store doesn't close just because you're sleeping, on vacation, or sick for a day. So the question is: how can you communicate with all those potential customers even when you’re not present?

Automated emails are the solution. Drew Sanocki, CEO of Autoanything.com (a nine-figure e-commerce store), put it this way: “Email automation is a way to automatically send most of your email marketing campaigns, allowing you to earn money while you sleep. Email automation is a way to talk to each customer differently based on where that person is in the buying journey. It's like having an extra employee on your team!”

Here’s an added benefit of email automation: with minimal upfront investment, you have more time to perform other critical tasks—like building a brand, running ads, answering support questions, fulfillment, etc.

What it boils down to is this: automated emails are not just an extra employee—they're one of the most valuable employees you'll ever have!
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The 3 Automated Emails You Need to Set Up Today

For clarity: I’m not saying that broadcast newsletters are bad. In fact, they are great! When you sit down and craft a fantastic broadcast email—whether it’s announcing a new product, offering a gift to VIPs with their purchase, or discussing your Black Friday sales—you will generate sales.

Now compare that to spending 10-20 minutes setting up a few automated emails. Sure, if you're starting from scratch, setting up these automated emails can be daunting... It’s complicated enough to figure out what you need to set up. That’s why we’re happy to recommend your first 3 automated emails:

1. Auto-responder Email After Signup (Welcome Series)
   Imagine someone just signed up as a new subscriber to your email list by filling out a welcome popup. An automated welcome email (you can also have a full welcome series) is an absolute must. It’s the first step in establishing long-term contact with your customer, and it can be very simple to set up.
2. Cart Abandonment Email Series
   This email category is a great way to capture "second chance" sales. If a visitor leaves their shopping cart, reach out to them. Try to answer any questions they may have. Offer a discount to help them complete their order.
3. Order Follow-Up Series
   Send a short series of emails after a visitor completes their order. For example, you want them to know that their order has been received (the confirmation email). You want to get them excited about the product (the "anticipation-building" email). And you want to provide ongoing support after the product is delivered (the "support follow-up" email).

Once you have those 3 automated emails set up, you can always expand from there. Want help setting up these flows? Here’s how we assist other online stores.