- Primarily uses email and SMS for one weekly newsletter with offers to the entire list
- Has a welcome flow and perhaps an abandoned cart flow, but not much else
- Wants to understand how email flows can systematically drive repeat purchases — not just one-off sales
- Is curious about how to build a pre-access strategy that generates revenue before a campaign goes live
When email and SMS are reduced to a single weekly newsletter, the channel becomes one-dimensional: the same message to everyone, regardless of where they are in their relationship with the brand. A brand-new subscriber who has never purchased receives the same discount offer as a loyal customer who has already shopped five times.
That is a wasted opportunity. Email and SMS are some of the only channels where you have full control over when and how a customer is contacted — and where you have access to data on exactly where they are in their customer journey. Using the channel as a broad broadcast is like having a sales team that says the same thing to everyone, regardless of whether the person just walked into the store or has been shopping there for years.
Before you can build effective email flows for an online store, you need to segment your list based on how engaged the recipients are and where they are in their customer journey — not just by age or gender.
A solid segmentation structure is typically built on three layers:
First-party data
Is the person a customer, and how many times have they purchased?
Zero-party data
What has the person shared about their interests, typically collected via a quiz, popup, or post-purchase survey?
Engagement data
How actively does the person open, click, and interact with your emails, and what have they viewed or purchased in the past?
With this structure in place, it becomes possible to send significantly more relevant communication: for example, a campaign can be targeted primarily at the most engaged recipients first, while less active segments receive a different approach or frequency.
A real series of email flows consists of several automations, each covering a specific point in the customer journey:
Welcome flow
The first contact after signup, typically using conditional splits based on where the person came from, rather than separate flows for each source.
Browse abandonment
For people who have viewed a product without adding it to their cart.
Abandoned cart
For people who have added items to their cart without completing the purchase.
Post-purchase
The critical period right after a purchase, where satisfaction is ensured and the foundation for a repeat purchase is laid.
Winback
For customers who have been inactive for a period, with a message specifically designed to re-engage them.
Each flow has its own purpose and timing. Together, they form a system that meets the customer exactly where they are — instead of sending the same message to everyone, regardless of context.
An often overlooked layer is pre-access — building a list of interested email and SMS subscribers before a campaign offer or product launch goes live.
In practice, this means building a dedicated landing page where visitors can sign up for early access to an upcoming campaign or launch. This offers two advantages: You build a list of warm, interested recipients, and you can generate sales in the hours leading up to an official launch — without requiring additional ad spend, because the list has already been built organically through previous touchpoints.
Why text-based emails often perform better than polished designs
Another frequently overlooked detail is the format of the email itself. There is a common assumption that beautiful, graphic email designs perform best — but in practice, simple, text-based emails that look like a personal message from a founder often perform surprisingly well.
The reason is likely that these types of emails feel more authentic and less like traditional advertising. They stand out in an inbox filled with polished, image-heavy newsletters precisely because they look like something a friend or acquaintance would send — not a campaign.
This doesn't mean all emails should be text-based. But it is a reminder that format and design should be tested, not just assumed — especially in situations where a more personal, direct message makes sense (like a pre-access announcement or a founder update).
Three signs that email and SMS are still being used as simple broadcasts rather than a lifecycle system: everyone on the list receives essentially the same message regardless of their relationship with the brand, there is no dedicated post-purchase or win-back flow, and campaigns are only announced to the entire list at once without a pre-access layer.
We never build email and SMS as a single newsletter for the entire list. We build it as a lifecycle system: segmentation based on engagement and purchase history, a set of email flows that cover the entire customer journey from first visit to repeat purchases, and a pre-access layer that ensures campaigns and launches generate revenue before they even go officially live. This is the approach we build into our email work through E-COM OS – where email and SMS are not an isolated channel, but an integrated part of the overall customer journey.
1. What is the difference between a newsletter and email flows in email marketing?
A newsletter sends the same message to the entire list at the same time. Email flows use segmentation and automated sequences to meet each individual customer with the right message, depending on where they are in their relationship with the brand.
2. Which flows should a webshop have as a minimum?
A solid foundation typically includes welcome, browse abandonment, abandoned cart, post-purchase, and win-back. Each flow covers a specific point in the customer journey.
3. What does "pre-access" mean in a campaign context?
It is the practice of building a list of interested email and SMS subscribers via a dedicated landing page before a campaign offer or product launch goes officially live — so that sales can be generated from the very first hours of the launch.
4. Are text-based emails always better than graphic designs?
Not necessarily, but they often perform surprisingly well because they feel more personal and authentic. The best approach is to test the format against your own list rather than assuming what works best.
5. How do you segment an email list based on engagement?
By combining first-party data (customer or not), zero-party data (self-reported interests), and engagement data (opens, clicks, purchase history) to form segments that reflect how active the individual recipient is and how far along they are in the customer journey.
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