Build in this order: welcome, cart, checkout rescue, post-purchase, browse, win-back, replenishment. Each flow is three to five messages, written once, tested once, and left to run. Then add a campaign calendar of launches, seasonal sends and one useful note a month.
Consent first, every time. A list built from people who asked, with the unsubscribe link in every message, is the only kind the law allows in Canada and the only kind that keeps earning in the USA.
Why flows earn more than campaigns
A campaign goes to everyone at once with the same message. A flow goes to one person because of something they just did: joined the list, looked at a product, left a cart, bought, stopped buying. The message arrives when the shopper is thinking about exactly that, which is why a cart reminder sent an hour after the cart was left outperforms a newsletter sent to the whole list on a Tuesday.
The cart flow alone justifies the work. Baymard Institute's running average of 50 studies from 2006 to 2025 puts the cart abandonment rate at 70.22%, and it has sat near 70% for over a decade. Baymard's own US survey found that 42% of shoppers abandoned because they were just browsing, which no email will change. Among the rest, the reasons are ones an email can speak to: 40% said extra costs such as shipping, tax and fees were too high, 20% that delivery was too slow, 19% that they did not trust the site with their card details, 18% that the site wanted them to create an account, and 17% that the checkout was too long. The flow that answers those objections recovers orders no campaign can reach.
The seven flows, in the order to build them
Each flow is three to five messages. Write them plainly, in the brand's voice, and show the products with real photos and prices.
- Welcome. Sent when someone joins the list. First message within minutes: thank them, deliver whatever was promised at sign-up, say what to expect and how often. Second and third over the following week: the brand's story in a paragraph, the best sellers, how to choose. If a first-order offer exists, it goes here and nowhere else.
- Cart reminder. Sent when a cart is left with items in it. First message within an hour: the items, the total, one link back to the cart. Second a day later: answer the objections Baymard lists, shipping cost and delivery time stated plainly, returns in a sentence, payment methods and security. Third, two or three days later, if your margin allows an incentive; many stores do better without one.
- Checkout rescue. Sent when a shopper entered an email at checkout and did not finish. Shorter and faster than the cart flow: one message within the hour with the order summary, a line on how to pay and who to contact if something went wrong, and a second a day later.
- Post-purchase. Sent after an order. Confirmation and shipping notices are transactional; the flow adds, after delivery, how to use or care for the product, an honest request for a review with no reward tied to the rating, and, later, the products that go with what they bought.
- Browse reminder. Sent when a known subscriber views a product or category and leaves without adding to cart. One or two gentle messages: the product they looked at, the questions shoppers usually ask about it, related items. Keep it light; this flow annoys fastest.
- Win-back. Sent when a customer has not bought for longer than your usual repeat interval. Two or three messages over a month: what is new, what they bought and what goes with it, and a plain ask for feedback if they have gone for good. Then stop and let them rest.
- Replenishment. For consumables only. Sent shortly before the product is likely to run out, based on the size bought and typical use: one message, the product, one click to reorder.
The campaign calendar around the flows
Campaigns are for news the whole list should hear: a launch, a restock, a seasonal collection, a sale you have chosen to run, and one useful note a month, such as a guide to choosing or caring for what you sell. Plan the year in a sheet with the date, the audience, the one message and the product, and then send fewer than planned. A list is an asset; each unwanted send spends some of it. Segment by what people bought and when, so that a customer who ordered last week does not receive the sale on the same product.
The rules in the USA and Canada
In the USA, the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide says the law covers any email whose primary purpose is commercial advertising or promotion, and that each separate email in violation can carry a penalty of up to $53,088. The requirements: accurate header and sender information, a subject line that reflects the content, a clear statement that the message is an advertisement, your valid physical postal address, a working way to opt out, and an opt-out honored within 10 business days. Messages whose primary purpose is transactional or relationship, such as an order confirmation or a shipping notice, fall outside the opt-out rule, but a confirmation that carries promotional content can change category, so keep the two kinds apart. You are responsible for what any tool or agency sends on your behalf.
In Canada, Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation requires consent before a commercial electronic message is sent, which covers email and text messages that encourage a commercial activity. Build the list from people who signed up, from customers and from inquiries, record when and how each consent was given, identify the sender in every message and keep the unsubscribe link working.
Two practices follow for a store selling to both countries. Use an unticked consent box at sign-up and checkout, with plain words about what will be sent, and keep the record. And keep transactional emails strictly transactional, with the marketing in the flows above, so that a shopper who opted out of marketing still gets the receipt. General information, not legal advice; your counsel has the last word.
Deliverability: the plumbing that decides whether anyone sees it
Authenticate the sending domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, warm up a new domain or tool gradually, remove addresses that have not opened or clicked in a long time, and never buy or rent a list. Watch bounce and complaint rates each month. A store with a clean list of people who asked to hear from it rarely has deliverability trouble; a store that imports every address it ever collected usually does.
How to measure ecommerce email
Count orders and revenue, by flow and by campaign, per recipient, with the attribution window written down (for example, an order within three days of a click). Opens are unreliable since mail apps began pre-loading images, so do not judge on them. Compare each flow's revenue per recipient month to month, and compare the whole channel's share of store revenue; a healthy store sees a steady share come from flows with no ad spend behind them. Review unsubscribe and complaint rates alongside, so that a rise in revenue is not bought with the list's goodwill. Our guide to ecommerce conversion rate optimization covers what to fix on the pages the emails send people to.
If you want it built for you
PromotEdge International is an international strategy, technology, marketing and design company, and our delivery team is in India. Our email marketing service page explains how we build the flows and campaigns for stores, with consent, tracking and a calendar, and our ecommerce marketing page covers the channels around them. For the marketplace side, see our guide to Amazon PPC strategy; for the store's search traffic, our ecommerce SEO checklist. This guide is general information, not legal advice; the rules of your country, state and province apply, and your counsel has the last word.
Facts we rely on: see our company facts for what we state about ourselves and where each fact comes from.