Overview
The time has arrived when we need to actively ‘Automate to Elevate’.
Advanced Journeys, Triggers, and Smart Segments aren’t mere words for big players. Every business that is seeking improved eCommerce engagement and customer experience should go for Smarter Marketing Automation. So today, we are going beyond basics – discussing the next step of email marketing automation (with Klaviyo).
Segmentation Basics
Before we start anything related to eCommerce marketing, the first step is to sort your audience segments and be very accurate about it! You can go like this:
Audience – Who are they? What do we know about them?
- Demographic Segment
- Age, Gender, Location
- Behavioural Segments
- Email behaviour
- Web/App behaviour
- Purchase behaviour
- First-Time Buyers
- Frequent Buyers
- Category Shoppers
- Customers who only buy during sales
- Example: For one client in large shoes, we found 226 customers who buy only during Nov and Dec
- High-cart value buyers
- Several more segments – will be covered in the upcoming explanation of each flow.
Core Marketing Automation Flows
Here, we will understand the core email marketing automation flows that most businesses are already using. We’ve described all the scenarios in a jiffy to understand the steps. But don’t forget to check out the bonus tips to master these!
A. Cart Abandonment Flow
- Trigger: The user adds items to the cart but doesn’t complete the purchase within X hours.
- Best practices:
- Email 1 (1 hour after abandonment): “Don’t forget your items!” Reminder with product images and “Complete Your Order” CTA.
- Email 2 (24 hours later): Offer incentives (e.g., 10% discount OR free shipping) 24 hours later. “Still thinking? Here’s 10% off!” with a discount code.
- Email 3 (48 hours later): Create urgency (e.g., Last Chance! / Stocks running out)
- Email 4 (extended 1 week later)
- Segment: All users with cart activity who received all the above emails but no purchase
- Message: You still have items in your cart. Your discount is still awaited.
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Bonus Tips:
- Use conditions to dynamically adjust incentives based on cart value
- Split flow for high-value carts (e.g., offer a larger discount)
- Segment existing customers, loyal customers or first-time purchasers to adjust the incentives.
- Include dynamic product recommendations based on cart content.
- Retarget cart abandoners on Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube with product-specific ads.
- Use conditions to dynamically adjust incentives based on cart value
B. Browse Abandonment Flow
- Trigger: User views product pages but leaves without adding items to their cart
- Best practices:
- Email 1 (1-2 Hours After Browse):
- Showcase browsed products with a message like “Still thinking about this?”
- Highlight benefits and include product images.
- CTA: “Get it now before it’s gone!”
- Email 2 (24 Hours Later):
- Highlight related products
- Include reviews or testimonials for the browsed product.
- Offer a small incentive like free shipping.
- Email 3 (48 Hours Later):
- Create urgency with stock availability: “Only five left in stock!”
- Cross-sell similar products if the original is unavailable.
- Email 1 (1-2 Hours After Browse):
-
Tips:
- Include a seamless “Add to Cart” button in emails. Eliminate the steps for going to the product page and then hit add to cart. To learn more, you can take to the product page.
- Personalize ads using exact products browsed. Example: Collection Ads
- Use dynamic images and text to personalize based on the exact products browsed.
- A/B test subject lines: e.g., curiosity-driven (“Don’t forget this gem!”) vs urgency-driven (“Hurry—your favorite product is waiting!”).
-
Bonus :
- Audience Segment: Visitors who repeatedly view the same product but does not add to the cart, do not purchase
- Think about what message can drive the person to next action
- Share more information
- Products comparisons
- Incentive
- Think about what message can drive the person to next action
C. Welcome Flow for New Subscribers
- Trigger: The user subscribes to your email list.
- Best practices:
- Email 1 (Instant): Warm welcome with a first-time user discount or free shipping.
- Email 2 (Day 3): Highlight brand values/USPs and best-selling products/categories. Download the mobile app. Follow us on social media. Blogs. How to guide.
- Email 3 (Day 7): Encourage a first purchase with an expiring offer. Urgency!
-
Tips:
- Include videos introducing your brand for higher engagement.
- Offer tiered discounts for users who engage but don’t convert initially.
- Encourage sign-ups for an offer
- Leave your email ID and get 10% off on first purchase
- Run social Ads for signups
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Bonus :
- Audience Segment: Customer/Non-customer
- Messaging will be different
- Tailor content to sign-up source (website form vs. social media)
D. Post-Purchase Nurture Flow
- Trigger: Customer completes a purchase.
- Best practices:
- Email 1 (Day 1): Order confirmation and thank-you message.
- Email 2 (Day 3): “How to get the best out of your [product]” with usage tips, tutorials OR care instructions
- Email 3 (Day 7): Request a product review or feedback.
- Email 4 (Day 10): Cross-sell complementary products.
- For a customer who bought a camera, suggest lenses or cases.
- Email 5 extended (Day 30): “Ready to reorder?” for consumable goods (e.g., skincare, supplements).
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Tips:
- Send dynamic content based on purchased product categories.
- Incentivize reviews by offering loyalty points or discounts.
- Include a “You may also like” section in all follow-up emails.
- You may completely separate the product review flow and drip emails
-
Bonus :
- Audience Segment: Recent purchasers are segmented by product category.
- Messaging templates can be different for different categories
- For high-value purchases, include a personal “Thank You” message from the founder.
E. Sign-Up Forms for Audience Acquisition
- Types of Sign-Up Forms:
- Pop-Ups: Triggered by time-on-site, exit intent, or scroll percentage.
- Inline Forms: Embedded on product or blog pages.
- Gamified Forms: Spin-to-win or scratch card formats offering discounts.
- Form Design Best Practices:
- Keep it simple: Only ask for essential info (email, phone number).
- Offer value: Discounts, free shipping, or exclusive content.
- Example Copy:
- Headline: “Join Our Club!”
- Subheadline: “Get 15% off your first order + early access to sales.”
-
Tips:
- Use behavioral targeting: Show different forms to first-time visitors vs. repeat visitors.
- Leverage integrations: Automatically sync sign-up data with Advertising platforms
- Use A/B testing to optimize form design and messaging.
- Pre-fill forms for returning users to reduce friction.
- Show only SMS signups for email subscribers.
The mentioned ones are the core flows that every eCommerce email marketing campaign follows. However, being agile is the way forward, and thus, understanding and replicating the advanced marketing automation flows can help personalize and convert better!
Advanced and Custom Marketing Automation Flows
A. VIP Customer Flow (Loyalty Flow)
- Trigger: Reward customers who surpass a spending threshold or make multiple purchases.
- Example: Customers who have spent more than $500 or made 5+ purchases
- Example: Send a “Thank you” email after the 5th purchase with an exclusive discount.
- Best practices:
- Personalized thank-you message. Early access to a sale or exclusive products. Special discount code.
- New arrivals
- Extra loyalty rewards or event invites.
- Send timed drips
-
Tips:
- Segment VIP programs with tiers (e.g., “Gold,” “Platinum”) and provide tiered discounts
- Track AOV of VIPs
- Track retention rates of VIPs
-
Bonus:
- Use AI tools to predict and target potential VIPs.
B. Exactly opposite: reduce churn rate or likelihood of churns
Winback campaigns / re-engagement Flow (inactive users)
- Trigger: No purchase or interaction for 90 days.
- Best practice:
- Email 1: “We miss you!” with a small discount or free gift offer. “Here’s 15% off to return.”
- Email 2 (drip after 3 days): Highlight new arrivals or best sellers.
- Email 3 (drip after 7 days): “Final Call” for the discount, creating urgency.
-
Tips:
- Offer tiered discounts based on past purchase history.
-
Bonus:
Audience Segment:
- Dormant customers with
- no purchase in the last 90 days
- no purchase + no site visit in last 90 days
- no purchase + no email opens in the last 90 days
- no purchase + no email opens in last 90 days + visited site
- no purchase + no past five email opens
- No purchase + visited site more than 2 times in the last 90 days
- Tailor content/incentive accordingly
- Dormant customers with
Lapsed customers campaign – longer period of inactivity (email/purchase/web browsing)
Sunset campaign – cleanse out subscribers to optimize spend, send rates, IP hygiene
- Segment: no activity users of win-back campaign
- Example: more than a year – no activity. God bless them.
- Give them a final offer/benefit to turn active.
C. Price Drop Flow
- Trigger: Products on wishlists or recently browsed go on sale.
- Best Practices:
- Notify users of price drops via email or SMS.
- Include urgency-driven follow-ups: “Sale ends in 24 hours!”
- Example: NiceOne in Saudi sends PN at 11 at night, and the sale ends at 7 in the morning. Use a special limited-time code.
- Email 1: “Good news! [Product Name] is now 20% off!”
- Email 2 (48 Hours Later): “Don’t wait—the sale ends soon!”
-
Tip:
- Add direct-to-cart buttons to increase conversions.
- Use push notifications for immediate alerts.
Exactly opposite: Price increase Flow. The price of X product increases by 20% in the next 24 hours.
D. Back-in-Stock Notification Flow
- Trigger: Product marked back in stock after being sold out.
- Best practice:
- Email (Instant): “Good news! [Product Name] is back in stock.”
- Follow-up email (3 days later): “Only a few items left – grab yours now!”
- Combine with scarcity messaging: “Only 10 items available.”
- Audience Segment:
- Users who browsed or added the product to their wishlist/cart.
Bonus:
- Try back-in-stock and price drop combined.
E. Encourage physical store visits / Geofencing flow
- Audience segment: based on the address of your customers, define the area OR input pin code and create an audience of a 5 km radius of the physical store location
- Provide special in-store offers.
F. Birthday/Anniversary/Special Occasion Flow
- Trigger: User’s birthday or sign-up/first purchase anniversary.
- Best practice:
- Email 1 (1 Week Before): “Your special day is almost here—celebrate with 20% off!”
- Email 2 (On Birthday): “Happy Birthday, [Name]! A special gift just for you.”
- Email 3 (3 Days After): “It’s not too late to claim your gift!”
-
Tips:
- Include countdown timers to drive urgency.
G. How do you know your customers better? The best practice is to ask them questions
Example: Compression socks products
Survey form to customers asking age and gender plus –
What describes you the best/Why would you purchase compression socks products:
- Diabetic
- Pregnancy
- Medical condition
- Fatigue
- Long desk hours
- Athletics
- Leisure
- Fashion
If they have diabetes then show specific products / communicate everything for those products (price discounts, benefits, articles, etc.)
It requires replenishment – so repurchase reminders.
Tip:
- Incentivise for sharing information
Bonus :
Now imagine all of the above plus –
- Segmentation for Web and App
- People who buy more (frequent/high value) from app
- Example: Browsing more on apps and purchasing more fromthe web
- Channels – on which consumption of messages is more – WhatsApp/PN/SMS/email
- Time of the day sends – automated sends in batches when the customer is most active and on the preferred channel – also based on their respective timezones
- Merging online and offline (POS) databases as well as purchase history for a unified view of a consumer
This is where Omnichannel marketing automation is required.
Analytics and Performance Measurement
A. Key Metrics to Track:
- Workflow Metrics:
- Open rate, click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate.
- Example: Compare abandoned cart flow recovery rates before and after optimizations (urgency messaging).
- Revenue Impact:
- Revenue generated per flow (e.g., cart abandonment recovery)
- New customers AOV vs Existing customers AOV
- Customer Behavior Metrics:
- Measure re-engagement rates for dormant customers
- New customer acquisition
Tips:
- Use UTM parameters in emails to track specific campaigns in Google Analytics.
- Build custom dashboards using tools like Klaviyo’s analytics or Google Data Studio for holistic insights.
- Set up automated alerts for underperforming flows.
The Key
Now, for all of these to wor,k you need proper setups.
You need all the necessary click events to be measured and reported.
- Product syncs
- Customer data syncs
- Third-party tools syncs
- Google/Meta Ads
- Tracking setups
Giveaway: List of all custom tracking points
Action Plan
Key Takeaways for Automation Success
- Start Small: Begin with one or two core workflows like cart abandonment or welcome series.
- Segment Strategically: Prioritize behavioral and purchase-based segments.
- Iterate and Optimize: Regularly review metrics and A/B test workflows.
- Leverage Custom Flows: Build automation specific to your business needs, such as VIP flows or back-in-stock alerts.
- Leverage Dynamic Content for Better Personalization:
- Use customer names, locations, and browsing history dynamically in the email content.
- Example: “Hi [Name], your favorite [Category] product is back in stock!”
- A/B Testing in Flows:
- Test subject lines, images, and CTA buttons for better engagement.
- Example: Compare “Act Now—Limited Stock!” vs. “Your Favorite Item Awaits!”
- Example: Subject line testing in Klaviyo to a sample, and rest of the emails are sent to the best variant
- Frequency Optimization:
- Avoid overloading users: Cap emails at 2-3 per week for most segments.
- Use smart sending feature that limits sending multiple emails within a defined timeframe (for example: 16 hours)
- Leverage platform tools for timing:
- Use AI-powered tools/features to send emails when users are most likely to engage.
- Example: Send the Time Optimization feature to Klaviyo.
- Keep Segments Fresh:
- Periodically clean email lists to remove inactive users for better deliverability.
Smarter marketing automation emphasizes on personalization and segmentation. With these steps, win big at eCommerce marketing automation. And if you need assistance, our analytics team can help you with all your needs!
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As Director - Marketing, Zenul leads the marketing and branding at Krish. He brings with him an in-depth understanding of the evolving digital ecosystem and has a proven expertise and experience in strategic planning, market and competition analysis, creating and implementing client-centered, lead-gen and brand marketing campaigns. He has a heart for technology innovation and has been a keynote speaker on various platforms.
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