Retention Edge E18: $29M Shopify Email Marketing Secrets

In this episode of The Retention Edge Podcast, we were joined by Stefan Chiriacescu, Founder & CEO of Ecommerce Today, to break down the exact email automation framework his Shopify-focused agency rolls out for every client — from small stores to $40M/year brands.

He shared the six core flows that drive 72% of total email revenue. And most brands (even big ones) still don’t have them properly set up.

He also gets into:

• What most brands get wrong with pop-ups, timing, and incentives

• Why “confidence building” is now the key conversion lever post-COVID

• How simple timing tweaks outperform industry norms

• Why new customer flows are the single biggest missed opportunity

• The right and wrong ways to use AI in email and onsite personalization

Let’s dive into the key takeaways from the episode with Stefan:

The Six Fundamental Email Automation Flows

Email marketing’s not dead — it’s still a core part of your retention system.

These flows made $29.6M last year, with 72% coming from automated emails, not campaigns.

1. Welcome Flow

2. Site Abandonment

3. Browse Abandonment

4. Cart Abandonment

5. Checkout Abandonment

6. New Customer Flow

Stefan stresses that every ecommerce brand — no matter the size — should have these implemented. But 99% of brands don’t.

If you only implement these six flows (correctly) you’ll outperform the vast majority of ecommerce brands. Most stores only have half of them implemented, and even then, the timing, structure, and incentives are wrong.

Leveling Up Your Welcome Flow

Just about every brand has a popup on their website with a welcome offer + welcome email flow.

The overall goal is to:

• Capture email addresses

• Convert new subscribers into new customers

Stefan shared some key tactics he uses to get this right:

• Always include an incentive (not necessarily a discount)

• Smart pop-up triggers (never immediately on page load)

• 3-email structure: incentive → brand confidence → products + deadline

The incentive doesn’t have to cheapen your brand. It doesn’t have to be a 75% off discount code. You can get creative — think about what’s going to bring value for your ideal customer.

The Four Abandonment Flows

Abandonment flows are going to make you a lot of money (not just with email — we have brands driving $300K+ monthly from abandoned cart push notifications).

The best part? These are automated. Set them up once, they run on autopilot, driving sales while you sleep (or scroll social media).

Here are the four flows you need to have:

• Site abandonment: Triggered before a product is viewed. One email, mostly best sellers. Very underused.

• Browse abandonment: Triggered after product views without add-to-cart. Two emails.

• Cart abandonment: Three emails, heavy focus on confidence building. Stefan’s advice: Send emails at +22 or +23 hours, NOT +24. This aligns with customer routines and beats industry norms every time.

• Checkout abandonment: Three emails. Incentives matter if you want to bring back people who bounced at the final step.

Pair these flows with an app + push notifications, and you’ll see a sizable lift in revenue, with no extra ad spend.

New Customer Flow: The Most Underrated Revenue Driver

This is where brands miss the biggest opportunity. Once someone becomes a customer for the first time, they’re primed, they’re excited, and it’s a great opportunity to set the stage for long-term retention.

You should have a 4 email sequence, ultimately with 3 goals:

1. Build connection — share something human, funny, personal

2. Be helpful — FAQs, setup, delivery expectations

3. Drive the second purchase — usually around day 20–22

Most brands don’t do this. They either go straight for the next sale; or all they send is a ‘thank you’, before going dark or adding the customer to a catch-all campaign.

A/B Testing: The Lifeblood of Long-Term Email Revenue

Testing is the engine behind long-term email revenue — but also the part brands tend to neglect once their automations are live.

His team keeps a master sheet for every client and tests:

• Subject lines

• Click-through content

• Incentives

• Sending times

• Profitability

They test everything, keeping track of what’s been tried, what’s won, and what needs to be revisited.

Many of the biggest wins come from tiny tweaks, like changing the timing on abandonment emails.

And when the data becomes overwhelming, that’s when AI shows great potential to sift through and surface notable patterns.

How to Actually Use AI in Your Email Flows

Stefan says that most AI-generated email personalization is more harmful than helpful.

The tools inside Klaviyo, Omnisend, etc. tend to create messages that feel overly familiar, generic, or just flat-out wrong — the kind of “AI slop” that calls you by your first name and pretends to know your hobbies.

Stefan’s team has A/B tested this across regions, and in places like Europe, California, and Canada, over-personalized AI copy actually performs worse because it feels invasive.

So instead of letting AI talk to customers, his team only uses it behind the scenes for data analysis, spotting A/B test patterns, and accelerating strategy work.

He stressed that AI is brilliant for crunching data, summarizing insights, and helping marketers test smarter — but it still can’t replace human psychology, brand nuance, or trustworthy communication.

This episode was an excellent reminder that, even thought email is the most fundamental retention channel we have, so many brands aren’t using it to its full potential.

Watch or listen to the full pod below:

You can also find it on Spotify. Wherever you listen, don’t forget to like, rate, review, comment, subscribe. Each interaction helps us bring more experts on to share their wisdom (always free, btw).

You can connect with Stefan on LinkedIn, and learn more about his agency at ecommerce-today.com.

I’ll be back later in the week with the latest from around the ecom world, plus our regular deep dives into retention and sustainable growth strategies.

Talk soon,

Pietro and The Retention Edge Team

PS: thinking about launching your own app? Go to our website to get a preview of your app for free, or shoot me a DM on LinkedIn to talk about it.