Sending Automated Emails

Email automation tools, such as Klaviyo and Active Campaign, have easy drag-and-drop visual builders to build email flows triggered based on different user behaviors. Their automation technology will allow you to send targeted messages to relevant audience subsets, at the right time.

‍PRO TIP: You'll want to look for email automation tools that are able to leverage lots of different kinds of user data because this means you can send more sophisticated targeted messages to more relevant audience subsets.

Using Automated Emails To Acquire More Customers

If you're new to email automation, this guide will focus on the top 4 revenue-driving email flows to help you convert more customers, engage inactive users, and win back abandoned carts:

•  Welcome Flow
•  Browse Abandonment Flow
•  Add To Cart Flow
• Abandoned Cart Flow

These email flows are the highest ROI way to drive revenue from email automation because they target each of the critical areas of the customer journey where customers decide to purchase from your e-commerce store.

Here's a visual example of the parts of an ecommerce customer journey that each of these email flows target:

Each flow engages with a person with the right message, at the right time, to get them to the next stage of the customer journey.

For example, an abandoned cart email automation is sent to shoppers who abandoned their cart. These cart abandonment emails re-engage these shoppers to move them to the next stage of the customer journey by making a purchase.

Building An Automated Email Marketing Strategy To Acquire Customers

Before you get started in building a plan, you want to start by asking yourself and your team one important question that will be the foundation of your email automation ecommerce acquisition strategy:

‍Key Acquisition Question: Where and why are potential customers most likely to decide not to make a purchase?

For example, are most of your website visitors leaving after viewing a few products because they can't decide which products they want? Or are most of your shoppers leaving after they start checkout because shipping is too expensive?

Next, you'll follow these key steps to building your email automation strategy to acquire more customers:

•  Prioritize: Start by planning out each of the flows you will build in priority order. You'll want to prioritize the flows that target your most important business goals first.
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•  Plan: Determine the number of emails each of your flows will have. This is an important step to ensure you and your team can execute on creating each of these emails.
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•  Flow Mapping: Build a flow map to determine the number of emails, key objective for each email & when they should be sent out to the customer
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•  Execute: Start creating emails! We recommend using an email brief to develop an overview for each email before writing copy and designing the emails in order to save time.

You can also use an email strategy automation tool like Backbone which will recommend the flows you need to build each month for your business to drive the most sales, customized to your industry & goals. Plus, with Backbone's Bandwidth+ services, you can get all of your emails custom designed!

What Is A Welcome Flow?

A Welcome Flow is a series of automated emails that welcome new subscribers to your brand. This email automation is sent to people who joined your email list but haven't made a purchase.

Here is a typical customer journey before they receive the automated emails from a Welcome Flow:

You should have at least one welcome email since it can be one of your highest revenue-driving emails for your business, but for typical online stores, a successful Welcome Flow has 3-5 emails.
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80% people will open a welcome email and it often generates as much as 4x more opens & 10x more clicks than other types of email campaigns. So, additional welcome emails are a powerful tool to generate more sales.

The Customer Journey Of Your Welcome Flow

For your Welcome Flow to be effective at converting a new subscriber into a customer, you need to understand your potential customer's journey & customer's mindset when they join your Welcome Flow:

•  They saw an ad on a social media platform such as Facebook, Instagram & Tiktok, or Google
•  They clicked on the social media ad & landed on your website
•  They had an email capture pop-up appear after a few seconds
•  They entered in their email address
•  They may have continued to browse around on your website or leftThey went to their email inbox and saw your welcome email

Your Welcome Flow is targeting shoppers who were interested enough in your brand to click on an ad to land on your website and enter their email address, but weren't convinced to make a purchase.

‍A successful Welcome Flow email automation makes a good impression on your new subscribers & addresses their buyer friction.

‍Buyer friction is all of the various objections and hurdles they may have that is stopping them from purchasing purchase.

They could need to understand what makes your brand unique or why they should buy from you. Some may need more convincing that a specific product can solve their problem. Others may not have anything that caught their eye and need to be guided in deciding what to buy.

A Successful Welcome Flow

A successful Welcome Flow email automation that effectively converts your new email subscribers into customers will:

1. Introduce shoppers to the products you sell & why they should buy them

General more sales by showcasing your top-selling products that people love & share the benefits people get from using the product. Great welcome marketing emails help potential customers see how their life looks before and after using your product.

‍Bonus Tip: If you have a lot of products, help potential customers out by pointing them in the right direction on the first products they should buy with product recommendations, quizzes, guides, or even suggesting products in an appropriate price range for their preferences.

2. Educate people on why they should trust your brand & buy from you

Tell customers your brand mission and story if it's relevant, but also don't forget to tell them what might make your brand different.

Do you have great customer service or a generous return policy? Is your product a higher quality than your competitors? Do you have thousands of reviews from happy customers? Do you have an easy purchase experience to allow customers to buy from you without too much fuss?

3. Address common questions or objections

One reason people may not be ready to buy, even if they're incredibly interested in your products, is that they have concerns or questions.

Share customer FAQs and tackle them head on in your Welcome Flow. This can cover content such as how to use your products, the behind-the-scenes of how your product is made, or how long shipping takes.

4. Builds a relationship with the shopper throughout the sales cycle

One of the best ways to turn email subscribers into customers. After all, they were interested in your products but may need more education to understand what to buy, or why they need them.

Show that you understand their pain points or share information that can help them. For example, a health brand like Onnit, can use their Welcome Flow to share content such as tips on healthy eating to get all your nutrients, how to improve your energy, or how to get better sleep, since they have many subscribers who are interested in ways to improve their health.

5. Provide a coupon code

If your welcome pop-up included an offer (eg. 10% off) for joining the email list, make sure to remind subscribers of that in your welcome email and provide the coupon code to claim the offer. While you don't have to include an offer in your Welcome Flow, most consumers now expect discount codes for their first purchase so it can be an important element in increasing your conversion rates.

‍To measure the success of your flow, the key Welcome Flow metrics you want to look at are:‍

‍Total Revenue: This is the amount of revenue your Welcome Flow generating for your business each month.
‍$/Lead: This metric will show you how much revenue your Welcome Flow can generate per person who enters it. This is important because it tells you the value of each email subscriber you get. This metric is calculated by dividing the amount of revenue your Welcome Flow generates by the number of unique people entering the flow.

Your Welcome Flow can also support with advanced goals & KPIs such as reducing the average time to a customer's first purchase & increasing the average order value of your first purchase.

Building Your Welcome Flow

A Welcome Flow should typically have 3-5 emails sent at these intervals after an email subscriber enters their email into the website opt in:

•  Email #1: immediately
•  Email #2: 12-24 hours later
•  Email #3: 1-2 days later
•  Email #4: 1-2 days later
•  Email #5: 1-3 days later

Your first welcome messages should educate new subscribers on your brand, guide them to the products they should purchase and address any objections.

Welcome Email #1

Your first welcome email should help a new subscriber decide what and why they should buy from you. Common welcome email designs include elements such as:

•  Use direct subject lines (ie. Welcome To [YOUR BRAND])
•  An eye-catching bold header reminding them of your website pop-up offer and providing the coupon code
•  A product or collection grid with your top-selling products to guide people in selecting a product
•  Text or icons to share your brand USP (unique selling proposition) to tell people what makes your products unique or better than competitors

Here is an example of a custom generated email layout for Welcome Email #1 from Backbone for an ecommerce company:

Welcome Email #2

You can think of the second email in your welcome automation as a follow-up to sell your brand and products a bit. In other words, what else could you share that will make your products more desirable, your brand more trustworthy, or the customer more confident that they will love the product?

Obviously, this will vary depending on your brand and industry, but common content to include in your second email are:

•  Content to educate the customer on what the product can do & its benefits
•  GIFs & pictures of the product in use to show how it works
•  Showcasing before/after images to show the effects of the product
•  Sharing your brand values & company mission
•  Sharing social proof of testimonials & customer reviews

Here is an example of a custom generated email layout for Welcome Email #2 from Backbone for an ecommerce company:

Welcome Email #3

The third (and possibly, last) email in your welcome series should address common objections and hesitations that customers may have before buying. Your goal with this email is to address the buyer friction that is preventing someone from making their first purchase.

Again, this will vary depending on your brand and industry, but common content to include in your third email are:

•  Reviews & testimonials to show that other real customers have enjoyed your products
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•  Social proof such as magazines you've been featured in, PR, or influencers using your product to show you have been approved by these trusted sources
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•  Ingredients and/or certifications to show that it is a high-quality product (eg. non-GMO, organic, produced in WRAP-certified facilities)
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•  Information about the production process to show that it is a high-quality product (eg. cold-pressed juice, hand-woven clothes)
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• Risk-Free Guarantees to ease their mind that if they don't like the product, it's a risk free purchase (eg. 30-day satisfaction guarantee refund, free returns)
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•  Additional perks to make it easier for them to purchase (eg. free shipping, payment plans)

‍Here is an example of a custom generated email layout for Welcome Email #3 from Backbone for an ecommerce company:

Welcome Email Examples

What is a browse abandonment flow?

The Browse Abandonment Flow is the first of your Buyer Intent Flows. It is a series of emails targeting people who have showed buyer intent because they viewed a product on your website, but left without adding anything to cart or making a purchase.

Here is a typical customer journey before they receive the automated emails from a Browse Abandonment Flow:

A Browse Abandonment Flow is typically 2 emails, but can go up to 3 or even 4 emails.

The average e-commerce website conversion rate is only 1.62% which means that over 98% of your interested visitors aren't converting. Your browse abandonment flow can help convert more of these lost visitors into customers.

The Customer Journey Of Your Browse Abandonment Flow

For your Browse Abandonment Flow to be effective, it must address the variety of reasons why a potential customer may have left without making a purchase:

•  They were interrupted and/or switched devices (eg. mobile → desktop) and simply forgot.
•  They are overwhelmed by the number of choices
•  They're lacking critical information they need to decide to purchase or don't understand your product
•  They have direct objections or obstacles to purchasing
•  They have minor doubts and aren’t fully sold that they want or need your product

These are customers who were interested enough to go to your website and view a specific product, possibly even browsing around on your website to view multiple products. However, they weren't interested enough in any of them to add it to cart.

‍A successful browse abandonment flow will nudge potential buyers by reminding them of the products they were interested in, recommending other products, and educating them more on the brand.
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A Successful Browse Abandonment Flow

The goal of the Browse Abandonment Flow is to get customers to the next stage of the customer journey: adding a product to cart. It does so by reminding customers of what they were interested in & bringing them back to your website.

Browse abandonment flows can generate revenue for your ecommerce business by:

‍Reminding visitors of the product they viewed (this is especially relevant to people who simply were interrupted or switched devices)

‍Remove buyer friction, which are reasons customers may hesitate to buy, by reducing the risk of purchase (eg. satisfaction guarantee, free shipping, free returns, warranty)

‍Addressing common objections to purchase head on (eg. price, quality, worried it won’t work)

‍Share social proof to give them more confidence in the purchase

Reminder of key brand unique selling propositions (USPs) (eg. Vegan, gluten free, sustainably produced, 10% of profits donated)

‍Recommend other products that they may like more instead

‍‍To measure the success of your flow, the key Browse Abandonment Flow metrics you want to look at are:‍

‍Total Revenue: The amount of revenue your Browse Abandonment Flow generates for your business each month

‍Conversion Rate: The percentage of potential buyers the flow converts into customers. This is calculated by the number of people who make a purchase from a Browse Abandonment flow divided by the number of people who received a Browse Abandonment email

Your Browse Abandonment Flow can also support with advanced goals & KPIs such as reducing the average time to a customer's first purchase & increasing the average order value (AOV) of your first purchase.

Building Your Browse Abandonment Flow

An Browse Abandonment flow should typically have 2 emails sent at these intervals after cart abandonment:

‍Email #1: 4-12 hours later
‍Email #2: 12-24 hours later

Browse Abandonment Email #1

This email should remind customers of the product they were interested in and provide more information that might encourage them to make a purchase.

Here is an example of a custom generated email layout for Browse Abandonment Email #1 from Backbone for an ecommerce company:

Common browse abandonment email designs include elements such as:

•  Personalized subject lines with the product name or why they're receiving the email
•  An eye-catching bold header reminding them they were viewing a product
•  A reminder of their welcome discount codes if they've never made a purchase
•  A clear call-to-action button (eg. Keep Browsing, Shop Now)
Images & names of the products the customer was interested in

Browse Abandonment Email #2

This follow up email is a reminder for customers that are still considering their purchase.

Here is an example of a custom generated email layout for Browse Abandonment Email #2 from Backbone for an ecommerce company:

Your second browse abandonment email will be similar to the first one, except it may also include elements such as:

•  Reviews of your product from other customers
•  Additional information about your brand & what makes it unique
•  Recommendations for a product bundle or other products the customer make like

Browse Abandonment Email Examples

What is an add to cart flow?

The Add To Cart Flow is the 2nd of your Buyer Intent Flows. It is a series of emails targeting customers who added product(s) to cart but didn't start checkout.

Here is a typical customer journey before they receive the automated emails from an Add To Cart Flow:

An Add To Cart Flow is typically 2 emails, but can go up to 3 or even 4 emails.

This flow can generate significant revenue for your business because 58.6% of US online shoppers have abandoned their cart within the last 3 months because “I was just browsing / not ready to buy”. The Add To Cart flow helps nudge these shoppers over to becoming customers

The Customer Journey Of Your Add To Cart Flow

Your Add To Cart Flow can be incredibly similar to your Browse Abandonment Flow since both are targeting customers who have shown buyer intent.

However, customers who receive a browse abandonment email may not even remember that they were browsing the site, whereas customers receiving an add to cart email will likely remember what products they added to their cart.

Additionally, customers receiving a browse abandonment email may not have as much interest in the product or may need more convincing. Those receiving an add to cart email are likely interested in the product and simply need more information to complete their purchase.

For your Add To Cart Flow to be effective, it must address the possible reasons a customer may have added a product or even multiple products to their cart but left without starting checkout:

•  They were interrupted and/or switched devices (eg. mobile --> desktop)
•  They can't decide which of the products in their cart they actually want to purchase
•  They're interested in the product but aren't convinced that it can solve their problem or is as high-quality as they want
•  They're lacking critical information they need to decide to purchase
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A Successful Add To Cart Flow

The goal of the Add To Cart Flow is to get customers to the next stage of the customer journey: starting & completing checkout. It does so by reminding customers of the products waiting in their cart & addressing objections or obstacles to purchase.

Add To Cart flows can generate revenue for your ecommerce business by:

•  Reminding visitors of the products in their cart (this is especially relevant to people who simply were interrupted or switched devices)
•  Remove purchase friction to reduce the risk of purchase (eg. satisfaction guarantee, free shipping, free returns, warranty)
•  Address common objections to purchase head on (eg. price, quality, worried it won’t work)
•  Share social proof to give them more confidence in the purchase
•  Reminder of key brand USPs (eg. Vegan, gluten free, sustainably produced, 10% of profits donated)
•  Upselling shoppers to other products they browsed or may like‍
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‍To measure the success of your flow, the key Add To Cart Flow metrics you want to look at are:‍
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•  Total Revenue: The amount of revenue your Add To Cart Flow generates for your business each month
•  Conversion Rate: The percentage of potential buyers the flow converts into customers
•  Average Order Value (AOV): The average value of a customer's purchase
•  Average # Of Products In Cart: The average number of products a customer purchases in their order

Your Add To Cart Flow can also support with advanced goals & KPIs such as reducing the average time to a customer's first purchase, increasing repeat purchase rate & increasing your average order value.

Building An Add To Cart Flow

An Add To Cart flow should typically have 2 emails sent at these intervals after cart abandonment:

•  Email #1: 4-6 hours later
•  Email #2: 12-24 hours later

This ensures that customers are reminded of their potential purchase and given enough time to make a decision.

Add To Cart Email #1

This email should remind them of the items they have added to their cart and provide additional proof or guarantees that they'll love the product.

Here is an example of a custom generated email layout for an Add To Cart Email #1 from Backbone for an ecommerce company:

Common add to cart flow emails designs include elements such as:

•  A personalized subject line reminding them they have products waiting for them
•  An eye-catching bold header urging them to start checkout
•  A clear call-to-action button to start checkout
•  A quick overview of the products in their cart to help them save time

Add To Cart Email #2

The follow up email is for customers who are not completely sold on purchasing the products they added to their cart.

Your second add to cart email will be similar to the first one, except it may also include elements such as:

•  Reviews of your product from other customers
•  Additional perks to reduce buyer friction (eg. satisfaction guarantee, free shipping, free returns, warranty, payment plans)
•  Additional information about your brand & what makes it unique
•  Recommendations for a product bundle or other products the customer make like based on their browsing or purchase history

Here is an example of a custom generated email layout for an Add To Cart Email #2 from Backbone for an ecommerce company:

Add To Cart Email Examples

What is an abandoned cart flow?

When it comes to email automations, cart abandonment emails are one of the most common and important flows you can build for your ecommerce store.

The Abandoned Cart Flow is the 3rd (and last) of your Buyer Intent Flows & it targets customers who started the checkout process but didn't complete it.

Here is an example of a typical customer journey before they receive the automated emails from an Abandoned Cart Flow :

According to Shopify, up to 77 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned, so effective cart abandonment emails can regenerate significant revenue for your store.

An abandoned cart email automation typically has 4 emails.

The Customer Journey of Your Abandoned Cart Flow

Your Abandoned Cart Flow will be similar to both your Browse Abandonment and Add To Cart flows, but with significantly more urgency & incentives since these shoppers have highest intent to buy.

Unlike shoppers who browsed through your site or added products to cart, people who receive cart abandonment emails were extremely interested your product & made the decision that they are ready to buy, but opted out midway through the checkout process.

‍Over 70% of online shoppers abandon checkout due to costs -- whether it's extra costs, such as shipping, being too high or that pricing is unclear. Other common reasons are that is a difficult checkout process or they simply don't trust the site.

For your flow to convert shoppers into customers, it must address and overcome these common objections from potential customers that are causing them to abandon their carts.

A Successful Abandoned Cart Flow

The goal of cart abandonment emails is to get customers to complete checkout and make a purchase. This is often done by reminding customers of their cart and creating urgency by providing discount codes.

These automated emails generate revenue for ecommerce stores by:

•  Providing perks or discounts to reduce extra costs (eg. free shipping, 10% off their purchase)
•  Building trust with the shopper through social media reviews & testimonials
•  Removing buyer friction, which are the common objections preventing potential customers from buying, by reducing the risk of purchase (eg. satisfaction guarantee, free shipping, free returns, warranty)‍

‍To measure the success of your flow, the key Abandoned Cart Flow metrics you want to look at are:‍

•  Total Revenue: The amount of revenue your Add To Cart Flow generates for your business each month
•  Conversion Rate: The percentage of potential buyers the flow converts into customers
•  Average Order Value (AOV): The average value of a customer's purchase
•  Average # Of Products In Cart: The average number of products a customer purchases in their order

Your Abandoned Cart Flow can also support with advanced goals & KPIs such as reducing the converting more new subscribers, increasing AOV, and generating awareness for new products.

Building An Abandoned Cart Flow

An Abandoned Cart flow should typically have 4 emails sent at these intervals after cart abandonment:

•  Email #1: 4 hours later
•  Email #2: 16-24 hours later
•  Email #3: 48 hours later
•  Email #4: 3 days later

Abandoned Cart Email #1 & 2

These first two emails should remind them of the items in their cart & overcome common objections that are stopping shoppers from purchasing.

Common cart abandonment email designs include elements such as:

•  Personalized subject line with urgency to complete checkout
•  An eye-catching bold header reminding them of the benefits of their products
•  A clear call-to-action button to complete checkout
•  Images & names of the products in their cart
•  Reviews of your product from other customers
•  Reminders of perks (eg. free shipping, 30-day satisfaction guarantee)

‍Here is an example of a custom generated email layout for an Abandoned Cart Email #2 from Backbone for an ecommerce company:

Abandoned Cart Email #3 & 4

The third and fourth emails create more urgency to checkout, with most ecommerce stores offering shoppers a limited time discount code to save on their order.

Your last two emails will be more direct promotional emails to engage these potential customers, by including elements such as:

•  An offer such as 10% off their order, a free product with purchase, or free shipping
•  Reviews of your product from other customers
•  Recommendations for a personalized product bundle or other products the customer make like

Here is an example of a custom generated email layout for an Abandoned Cart Email #3 from Backbone for an ecommerce company:

Abandoned Cart Email Examples