Why Email is Still King in Ecommerce

Ecommerce Retention Trends

Email Marketing for Ecommerce: The Unmatched ROI Channel

TThe $42-to-$1 ROI Benchmark

No other digital marketing channel gives you more bang for your buck than email. According to Litmus and Campaign Monitor, every $1 spent on email returns $42.

💡 Quick Tip: Set up revenue tracking with the correct attribution model in Klaviyo to monitor your ROI by flow, segment, and campaign. Don’t fly blind—track results!

This isn’t a fluke. It’s a proven trend across industries—whether you’re selling beauty products, gadgets, or gourmet snacks.

Why Email Outperforms Paid Ads, SMS & Social

ChannelAvg. ROIKey Weakness
Email$42:1Requires opt-in strategy
Paid Social$8:1Increasing ad costs, low attention span
Google Ads$17:1Competitive bidding wars
SMS$29:1Intrusive if overused

Email wins because it’s opt-in, cost-effective, scalable—and you’re not beholden to platform algorithms.

🛠️ Practical Tip: Start with a lead magnet (like a 10% discount or free shipping) to build your opt-in list. Use exit-intent popups and embedded sign-up forms.

You Own Your Email List—And That’s Everything

Control vs. Algorithms

Facebook or Instagram can throttle your reach with one algorithm tweak. But your email list? You own it.

✅ To-Do: Download and back up your email list monthly. Platforms may go down, but your asset stays safe.

Platform Independence = Predictable Revenue

Relying on ads is renting. Email is owning.

Benefits of owning your list:

  • No rising CPCs
  • Lower CAC over time
  • Re-engagement on autopilot
  • Complete data portability

💬 Real-World Move: Use retargeting ads to bring subscribers back into your email funnel. Sync your list with Meta Ads for warm audience targeting.

Email Builds Long-Term Customer Relationships

From First Touch to Lifetime Value

Email isn’t just for converting—it’s for nurturing.

Use email to:

  • Educate new subscribers
  • Upsell and cross-sell
  • Re-engage lapsed users
  • Celebrate milestones like birthdays or anniversaries

🎯 Action Plan: Create a 3-email welcome sequence introducing your brand story, product benefits, and a small offer.

How Email Nurtures Brand Loyalty

Top-performing flows include:

  • Welcome Series
  • Post-Purchase Tips & Support
  • Loyalty Rewards for VIPs
  • Referral Campaigns

🔁 Automate It: Use behavior-based tagging to identify repeat buyers and reward them with loyalty points or early access to launches.

Behavior-Based Automation Delivers Results

Flows That Work While You Sleep

Colorful infographic illustrating customer engagement strategies from passive to proactive outreach, including winback campaigns, browse abandonment, abandoned cart, replenishment reminders, product recommendations, and birthday emails, guiding ecommerce brands to re-engage users and boost retention.

Set up these revenue-generating automations once:

  • Abandoned Cart (recover up to 20% of lost revenue)
  • Browse Abandonment (remind people of what they loved)
  • Replenishment Reminders (perfect for consumables)
  • Product Recommendations (curated by Klaviyo product recommendation AI)
  • Birthday Emails (boost engagement with a gift)
  • Winback Campaigns (reignite cold subscribers)

🔧 Try This: Split-test subject lines in your abandoned cart flow. One word can increase open rates by 10-15%.

Email = The Most Measurable Marketing Channel

Attribution & Revenue Tracking

Email allows granular tracking:

  • Opens (make sure you take into account Apple privacy)
  • Clicks
  • Sales per email
  • Revenue per flow/recipient
  • Time to convert

📈 Optimization Tip: Build dashboards using tools like Google Looker Studio or Klaviyo Reports.

Email marketing performance dashboard showing campaign-level metrics for June 2025, including total recipients, open and click rates, CTOR, bounce rate, and revenue per recipient; individual campaign performance is color-coded by KPIs like orders and unsubscribe rate.
Email marketing performance dashboard highlighting drop-off data in automated flows, such as welcome series and abandoned cart emails, including metrics like opens, clicks, add-to-cart, and checkout conversions per message.
Email marketing performance dashboard displaying aggregated flow performance data for June 2025, featuring key stats like open rates, click-through rates, conversions, revenue per recipient, and top-performing automated email flows.
Email marketing performance dashboard focused on repeat vs. non-repeat customer behavior, showing metrics like average order value (AOV), revenue, re-order days, and customer lifetime value from email-driven campaigns.
Email marketing performance dashboard comparing attributed vs. unattributed revenue, total placed orders, and AOV per message for June 2025, with color-coded revenue data tied to individual email campaign names.
Email marketing performance dashboard with timeline graphs showing trends in attributed and unattributed revenue and orders throughout June 2025, with peaks corresponding to specific campaign dates.
Email marketing performance dashboard displaying engagement stats for various audience segments, including open and click rates, orders, revenue, and revenue per recipient across different subscriber lists.
Email marketing performance dashboard detailing campaign engagement by subscriber segment, with metrics like open rate, click rate, and order count tied to list names and campaign titles.
Email marketing performance dashboard illustrating total signups and placed orders by signup source and UTM parameters, including mobile and desktop forms, and attribution from sources like Facebook and influencers.
Email marketing performance dashboard visualizing daily subscriber trends including new subscriptions, unsubscribes, and profile updates, paired with a table of unique unsubscribes per campaign in June 2025.
Email marketing performance dashboard showing a bar chart of campaign timelines for June 2025, comparing total recipients (orange bars) to total placed order value (green bars) across specific dates like June 3, 9, 12, and 30, emphasizing spikes in revenue and email volume.

Optimization Opportunities with Data

Use metrics like:

  • Open Rate (target 35–50%)
  • Click-Through Rate (aim for 2–5%)
  • Revenue per Email ($0.20+ is strong)
  • Unsubscribe Rate (keep under 0.5%)

🧪 Test This: Run A/B tests weekly. Try changing CTA buttons, email length, or product images to see what converts better.

Email Is Evolving (And Getting Smarter)

Personalization & AI in 2025

Promotional banner for luxury pet furniture offering 25% off, featuring three products: a white wooden puppy play pen reduced to £101.24, a heavy duty deluxe dog crate now £52.49, and an 80cm high grey puppy play pen discounted to £89.99—all with code LAZY25.

Forget batch-and-blast. Today’s tools bring:

  • AI product recommendations
  • Smart segmentation by behavior or CLV
  • Predictive sending (best time of day)
  • Dynamic content blocks personalized per user

🤖 Pro Hack: Use Klaviyo’s predictive analytics to auto-create segments like “likely to churn” and send tailored winback emails.

Email + SMS + Push: The Future of Multi-Channel Journeys

Email now orchestrates your entire retention engine:

  • Pair email with SMS for time-sensitive drops
  • Use web push for cart reminders or restocks
  • Layer in retargeting based on email clicks

🔁 Journey Example: A subscriber views a product → gets an abandoned browse email → receives a next-day SMS → sees a Facebook retargeting ad.

Real Ecommerce Brands Winning with Email

Small Biz Example

A boutique clothing store used Klaviyo to recover $15K/month in abandoned carts, with 32% of their total revenue attributed to automated email flows.

🧠 Smart Move: They added product how-to videos in post-purchase emails to reduce returns and increase satisfaction.

Enterprise Success Story

A DTC skincare brand implemented:

  • Welcome Flows
  • Product Education Series
  • VIP Segmentation

They grew LTV by 41% and reduced ad spend by 26%.

📊 Tactical Note: Their winback flow reactivated 18% of lapsed users with a simple “We Miss You” email + free shipping offer.

FAQs: Why Email Still Matters for Ecommerce

Is email still effective in 2025?

Absolutely. Email keeps evolving with AI, automation, and dynamic content, delivering ROI that most channels can’t match.

What platform is best for ecommerce email?

Klaviyo is the top choice. Others like Omnisend and Mailchimp also offer strong features, especially for small businesses.

How often should I email my customers?

Start with 2–3x per week. Test engagement and adjust based on subscriber behavior.

Can email work without discounts?

Yes! Focus on value. Educate, tell stories, share testimonials, and use urgency (like limited restocks).

How do I start?

Begin with these four flows: Welcome, Abandoned Cart, Post-Purchase, and Winback. Build from there.

What should I test first?

Subject lines, sending time, and CTA buttons—these small changes can lead to big wins.

Long Live the King

Email isn’t just surviving—it’s thriving.

It offers control, measurable ROI, evergreen automation, and real relationships.

At The Mail Effect, we help ecommerce brands like yours build bulletproof email engines that generate consistent, trackable revenue.

🚀 Ready to build a retention machine?
Let’s make email your #1 growth channel.

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