A flow is an email (or a short series) that sends itself automatically when a customer does something — subscribes, adds to cart, buys, or goes quiet. Unlike a campaign, you build a flow once and it earns money on repeat, 24/7, with no further effort. For a new Shopify store, flows are the highest-leverage thing you can set up. Here are the five to turn on first, in order.
1. Welcome series
Trigger: someone joins your list (via a popup, at checkout, or the footer form). The welcome series is your handshake: it says who you are, why you exist, and often includes a first-order incentive. New subscribers are never more interested than in the first few days — this flow catches that attention while it’s hot. Start with 2–3 emails over the first week.
2. Abandoned checkout
Trigger: a shopper reaches checkout and doesn’t complete the purchase. These people were one click from buying, so a gentle nudge (and the exact items they left behind) recovers a meaningful slice of otherwise-lost sales. For most small stores this is the highest-earning flow of the five. Send the first reminder within an hour, a second the next day.
3. Post-purchase (thank-you)
Trigger: a customer places an order. A warm thank-you confirms they made a good choice, sets expectations for shipping, and can gently introduce a complementary product. The second order is where loyalty (and margin) begins — this flow starts that relationship.
4. Browse abandonment
Trigger: a known subscriber views a product but doesn’t add it to cart. It’s a softer signal than an abandoned checkout, so keep it light: a single “still thinking about it?” email with the product they looked at. Turn this on once your first three flows are humming.
5. Win-back
Trigger: a past customer hasn’t engaged or bought in a set window (say 60–90 days). A win-back flow reminds lapsed customers you exist, sometimes with an offer, and quietly protects your sender reputation by keeping your active list engaged. It compounds as your customer base grows.
Do them in this sequence. Welcome and abandoned checkout capture the most revenue for the least setup, so they earn while you build the rest. Don’t wait for all five to be perfect before you turn on the first two.
You don’t have to build these by hand
Wiring five flows, writing the copy, and designing each email is a week of work if you do it manually. MailPanda designs all five from your store’s products and voice, shows you each one, and only publishes the ones you approve — to Klaviyo or sent directly. See how flows and approvals work, or read the founder’s take on running email without an agency.
Playbooks, teardowns, and benchmarks from the team teaching an AI to run DTC email. We read the sends, run the tests, and ship what works straight into the product.
