August 8, 2025

5 Email Sequences an Ecommerce Brand Needs

Discover the essential 5 email sequences every ecommerce brand needs to boost sales and engage customers. Optimize your email marketing strategy today!
5 Email Sequences an Ecommerce Brand Needs
5 Email Sequences an Ecommerce Brand Needs

Key takeaways: 

  1. Email marketing is a powerful strategy that involves sending targeted, promotional messages to subscribers to increase brand awareness, strengthen customer relationships, and drive sales.
  1. At the heart of email marketing are email sequences, a series of automated emails sent to specific segments of your audience based on behaviors, triggers, etc.
  1. Email sequences are designed to guide customers through every stage of the buyer journey: from awareness and interest to desire and action.
  1. To maximize impact, you can implement these five essential email sequences: welcome email sequence, nurturing email sequence, re-engagement email sequence, abandoned cart email sequence, and upsell & cross-sell email sequence. 

Looking for a smart way to keep your customers hooked on your ecommerce brand?

Look no further, email marketing is still one of the most effective tools in your arsenal.

At ePlaybooks, we've seen firsthand how the right email sequences can do wonders. From building strong customer relationships to sharing compelling brand stories, driving conversions, and ultimately boosting sales.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through five essential email sequences your ecommerce brand needs. Ready to turn clicks into customers? Let’s dive in.

Email marketing: The basics 

Before we get started on email sequences, let’s take it back to the basics. 

What is email marketing? At the core, email marketing involves sending promotional messages to targeted email list subscribers to increase brand awareness, build relationships with customers, and boost sales.

The foundation for email marketing is an email subscriber list. You need to start by building a list of subscribers who have shown interest in your brand. You also want to choose the right email service provider to push and manage your email marketing campaigns. 

Once you create an email list and choose a service provider, you can start creating and promoting email marketing campaigns. You can reach your audience directly in their inbox, no algorithms in the way. 

According to insights from McKinsey, 96% of consumers would like to get emails from companies they do business with. You can tailor your messages based on customer behavior, interests, and purchase history.

In addition, email marketing is cost-effective, with an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent, according to HubSpot. It is one of the most affordable and high-ROI marketing tools.

What is an email sequence?

Email sequences are a series of automated emails sent to segmented audiences based on criteria over time. It involves using automation software to set up and publish your email campaigns. Some examples of automation software include QuickMail, MailChimp, Woodpecker, etc. 

This series of emails guides a customer through the journey of awareness, interest, desire, and action. An email sequence can include around two to seven emails; however, this can vary depending on the campaign goal. 

Email sequences are a powerful way to turn prospects into customers, build customer loyalty, and regain lost customers. 

Different customers are at different stages in the customer journey. Email sequences help you to segment your customers and send more personalized, authentic emails that bring value to your customers and bring you one step closer to your business goals. 

Advantages of email sequences

Here are a few advantages of email sequences: 

  • With an automated email sequence, you can increase customer retention and engagement. From welcome emails to post-purchase follow-ups, email sequences can help you engage customers from awareness to retention.
  • Email sequences help you send multiple messages using software, giving you more time to attend to other aspects of your business. 
  • With email sequences, you can send more personalized emails and connect with your customers on a deeper level. 
  • You can gradually build trust by sharing value, telling your brand story, and staying consistent in your communication.
  • Using email sequences, you can retarget customers who have once interacted with your brand and increase conversion. 

Related: How to Use Email Marketing to Increase Amazon Sales 

5 types of email sequences for your ecommerce brand 

Here are five main types of email sequences for ecommerce brands: 

  1. Welcome email sequence 
  2. Nurturing email sequence 
  3. Re-engagement email sequence 
  4. Abandoned cart email sequence 
  5. Upsell & cross-sell email sequence 

Welcome email sequence 

A welcome email sequence is a first impression email that introduces your product or brand to new subscribers. 

When someone new subscribes to an email list, they are excited to know about the brand. This is a golden opportunity to tell your brand story, pique the interests of your subscribers, and prompt further action.

Your welcome email should address the pain points of your subscribers and present your product or service as the solution that they need.

Nurturing email sequence 

With new subscribers excited to join your email list, you want to keep them intrigued and ready to buy your products with nurturing emails. 

Here, you want to answer the one question in the hearts of your subscribers - ‘what is in it for me?’ 

With nurturing emails, you can show your subscribers how to use your products and why your product is exactly what they need to solve their problems. 

You can send testimonials or reviews from existing customers to build trust and entice them to buy your product or subscribe to your service. 

Re-engagement email sequence 

If you have customers who haven’t made a purchase from your store in a while, a re-engagement email sequence will help you attract customers back to your store. You can send re-engagement emails to these customers, reminding them of your product and service offers. For example, you can offer discounts and other enticing offers to customers who you haven’t heard from in a while. 

Abandoned cart email sequence 

We have many clients at ePlaybooks tell us how shoppers come to their store, add a few products to their cart, and leave their site without purchasing your product for various reasons. 

Abandoned cart email sequences are emails that can remind shoppers of what’s in their cart and prompt them to complete their purchase. 

You can remind shoppers of their abandoned carts by including testimonials. A discount offer can also be a great incentive to persuade shoppers to complete their purchase. 

With abandoned cart email sequences, you can retrieve customers you have lost and increase your conversion rate. 

Upsell & cross-sell email sequence 

Upsell and cross-sell email sequences give you the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell your products or services to your customers. With this, you can increase your average order value and encourage repeat purchases. 

When customers place an order, you can send an order confirmation email with add-ons that customers may like to add to their order. To encourage them to buy the Upsell, you can add a discount. Include a time-sensitive offer to remind them to take advantage of the offer before it expires. 

How to set up email sequences to improve ROI 

Now, let’s go through a quick step-by-step on how you can set up email sequences to improve your return on investment as an ecommerce business:

  1. Choose the right email marketing platform
  2. Understand your customer journey
  3. Build the essential email sequences
  4. Track, test, and optimize

Choose the right email marketing platform

Before setting up any sequence, you need a robust email service provider. Choose one that allows automation, segmentation, analytics, and integrations with your ecommerce platform, like Shopify. Some top email marketing platforms include Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend, and ConvertKit. 

Understand your customer journey.

We tell our clients at ePlaybooks that the success of your email marketing campaign relies heavily on understanding your customer journey. You want to map out the key stages of your customer journey: from first-time visitor to loyal repeat buyer. This helps you decide which email sequences to build and when to trigger them. So, you want to identify key stages, like when someone joins your list, when your cart is abandoned, after a purchase is made, and when a customer becomes inactive. 

Build the essential email sequences.

After mapping out key stages of your customer journey, it is time to build your email sequences. Introduce your brand with a welcome email sequence to convert your subscribers into customers. Use a friendly conversational tone, showcase your best sellers, and include a strong CTA. 

Next, keep your customers intrigued with nurturing emails. Explain how your products solve their problems. Win back inactive subscribers or previous customers with re-engagement emails, clear your carts and recover sales with abandoned cart emails, and increase your average order value with upselling and cross-selling email sequences. 

Track, test, and optimize

Once your sequences are live, the work doesn’t stop. You want to track your email performance and make improvements over time. Keep your eye on metrics like open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, and unsubscribe rate. Are people engaging with your content? Are emails leading to purchases? Is your content turning people off? A/B test different subject lines, colors, CTA buttons, content, and so on. 

5 email sequence best practices

As we’ve already established, email sequences come with multiple benefits for any ecommerce brand. Here are some best practices for creating high-converting email sequences: 

  1. Set a clear goal 
  2. Pay attention to your subject lines
  3. Add valuable content 
  4. Include a call-to-action 
  5. Keep mobile in mind 

Set a clear goal 

Firstly, it is important to set a clear goal before creating an email sequence. This will also help you craft content that is relevant to your audience. For instance, if you want to bring customers back to your ecommerce site, you will need to write re-engagement email sequences. Ensure the goal is clear and specific to make the most out of your email sequence. 

Pay attention to your subject lines.

Email sequences are effective, but you need to get people to open your email. This is where email subject lines come in. 

Your subject line can largely determine the success or failure of your email sequence. With so many emails coming into your customers' inboxes, you need to entice customers to open your email. You can use A/B testing to try out different subject lines to find out which ones have a higher open rate. 

Add valuable content 

Email sequences are automated email campaigns. However, you want to ensure you create valuable content that addresses the needs of your customers. You also want to personalize your emails to build a deeper connection with your customers. For example, you can include a customer’s name, exact photos, prices, and features of the product your customer wants to buy (for cart abandonment emails). 

Include a call-to-action 

At the end of your email, your customers should know exactly what action they should take. Without a call to action, your customers may go through your email and simply scroll away. Include a clear call-to-action button in your email to direct customers on what to do. 

Keep mobile in mind 

Many of your email subscribers will use their mobile phones to access their emails. You want to ensure that your email looks good on mobile devices. 

Email marketing metrics to keep in mind 

To measure the success of your email sequences, you need to keep these metrics in mind: 

  • Open rate: Your email open rate refers to the rate people open your email. A high open rate indicates that many people are interested in your email. 
  • Click-through rate: The click-through rate measures how many subscribers clicked on the link or links within your email. 
  • Conversion rate: The conversion rate metric measures how many people took the specific action required. In other words, it refers to the number of people who clicked on the link and took action. This could be buying a product or downloading a resource. 
  • Bounce rate: This metric shows whether emails were delivered or not. An email not delivered for temporary reasons, like a full mailbox or large content, is called a soft bounce, while emails not delivered for permanent reasons, like a non-existent email, are called hard bounces. 
  • Unsubscribe rate: The unsubscribe rate refers to the number of users who unsubscribed or lost interest in your emails. If your unsubscribe rate is high, you may need to evaluate your content or change your target audience. 
  • Revenue generated: This metric measures how much revenue you were able to generate from your email campaign(s). 

Final thoughts 

To date, email marketing remains a powerful marketing strategy to reach your customers and boost sales. With email sequences, you can guide customers from awareness to taking action. Thanks to automation software, you can set up and manage your email sequences while focusing on other important aspects of your business. When done right, emails can become one of the most valuable assets in your marketing toolkit. Start small. Build one sequence at a time. Measure, improve, and grow. 

If you need a reliable partner to nurture your ecommerce presence while you focus on other important areas of your business, you can contact us at ePlaybooks.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the best email sequences every ecommerce brand needs?

Here are essential email sequences every ecommerce brand should have to drive engagement, build loyalty, and boost sales:

  • Welcome email sequence: This is a first impression email that introduces your product or brand to new subscribers. 
  • Nurturing email sequence: With nurturing emails, you can show your subscribers how to use your products and why your product is exactly what they need to solve their problems. 
  • Re-engagement email sequence: With re-engagement emails, you can engage with customers who haven’t purchased from your store in a while. 
  • Abandoned cart email sequence:  With the abandoned cart email, you can send a reminder to customers to recover lost sales when they leave items in their cart.
  • Upsell & cross-sell email sequence: You can upsell and cross-sell your products or services to your customers, and increase your average order value. 

How do I set up email sequences an ecommerce brand needs for maximum ROI?

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide on how you can set up email sequences to improve your return on investment as an ecommerce business:

  • Choose the right email marketing platform: Choose an email marketing platform built for ecommerce, eg, Klaviyo, MailChimp, and Omnisend. 
  • Understand your customer journey: Outline your key customer touchpoints from signup to first purchase, post‑purchase, inactivity, and repeat purchase.
  • Build the essential email sequences: Next, proceed to build essential email sequences (welcome email sequence, nurturing email sequence, re-engagement email sequence, abandoned cart email sequence, and upsell & cross-sell email sequence). 
  • Track, test, and optimize: A/B test subject lines, send times, and incentives. Monitor metrics like open rate, conversion rate, and unsubscribe rate for each sequence and make adjustments. 

Which metrics should you track for the best results in email marketing?

Here are a few metrics you should track to get the best results in email marketing: 

  • Open rate: Your email open rate refers to the rate people open your email. A high open rate indicates that many people are interested in your email. 
  • Click-through rate: The click-through rate measures how many subscribers clicked on the link or links within your email. 
  • Conversion rate: This shows the percentage of recipients who completed a desired action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a webinar, or downloading a resource, after clicking through your email. 
  • Bounce rate: This metric shows whether emails were delivered or not. Soft bounces are temporary issues (e.g., full inbox or message too large). Hard bounces are permanent failures (e.g., invalid or non-existent email addresses).
  • Unsubscribe rate: This indicates how many recipients opted out of your email list after receiving a message. A high unsubscribe rate may signal that your content isn’t meeting expectations or you're targeting the wrong audience.

Revenue generated: This metric measures how much revenue you were able to generate from your email campaign(s).

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