How often does the newsletter you send get relegated to the 'to-read' pile, or worse, the spam folder?
The truth is, an occasional purchase or even an excellent product isn’t enough. The real success of an eCommerce business stems from building a community and having the ability to transform every interaction into a moment of value: sneak peeks, events, targeted discounts, and even birthday messages.
If you run a Shopify store and feel the need to step up your game, you are in the right place. In this guide, we will show you how to make the most of Shopify's native features and how to boost them with specialised tools like Klaviyo and HubSpot for advanced segmentation and optimisation.
It’s time to turn every contact into a meaningful conversation.
How does the dream of targeted, non-intrusive communication translate into practice? The answer is Marketing Automation.
It’s not just about using software for automation; it is about strategically leveraging digital tools to personalise your marketing and sales activities at scale. The goal is to send the right message, to the right person, at the exact moment, making every campaign more effective and the customer experience memorable.
This approach frees you from repetitive tasks, giving your team back valuable time to dedicate to creative and complex initiatives.
Be warned, though: this strategy only works if powered by the right data. It all starts with the ability to precisely define and segment your target audience and their every interaction with your brand.
When done right, this isn’t about fleeting trends, it’s about results that boost your bottom line:
Here are eight strategic levers you can activate on your Shopify store right away.
The first rule of automation is: do not rush the sale. Offering real value in exchange for contact details is the best way to build genuine relationships. This lead magnet must solve a small problem, transforming curiosity into trust. Here are some examples:
First impressions are crucial. Your welcome to the community cannot just be a cold "thank you". Automate a series of emails that greet the new subscriber, tell your brand story, share your values, and perhaps include a small incentive for the first purchase. In subsequent stages, use success stories and reviews to strengthen credibility.
Approximately 70% of online carts are abandoned: a drain on sales you cannot afford. The solution is a strategic, automatically sent reminder that acts as a subtle persuader. Use automated email sequences or high-engagement channels like WhatsApp to bring the customer back to the checkout and recover lost sales.
Sending the same email to everyone is the best way to end up in the spam folder. Marketing automation allows you to segment your audience with surgical precision by considering behaviours: what they have searched for, what they have bought, how long they have spent on a page.
With this data, you can use web personalisation to tailor what each visitor sees, with offers tailored to their interests.
Every sale is an opportunity. Leverage automation to intelligently suggest a related product (cross-selling) or a superior model (up-selling). Plan these suggestions not only at checkout, but also in post-purchase communications. When based on dynamic data, these suggestions significantly increase the average transaction value.
The relationship with the customer does not end at checkout; on the contrary, that is where true loyalty begins. Send automated messages to say thank you, request a review (essential for social proof), or offer a targeted discount for a future purchase. Even transactional updates like shipping notifications can become opportunities to build trust and reinforce your brand’s professionalism.
If your products are complex or your brand is unfamiliar, overcome uncertainty. Integrate demonstrative videos ("How to use?") directly on product pages to answer common doubts.
And don’t take site abandonment for granted: catch visitors before they leave with an exit pop-up. It is your last chance to offer a valuable lead magnet or a discount code before they vanish.
Open rates, clicks, conversions, and, above all, the effectiveness of your workflows: it is crucial to constantly monitor the results. Automation is not magic; it is a growth system that requires constant checks and an analytical mindset.
Advanced tools like Klaviyo and HubSpot allow you to track this data accurately. If an open rate is low, it is time to test different email subject lines or segment the target audience better. The data is talking to you; be ready to revise your strategies.
For your automations to truly work, all your channels must speak the same language. Automations are only as effective as the data that feeds them. For this reason, connecting your eCommerce platform with your CRM, help desk, and social channels is essential.
The real challenge is not whether to do marketing automation, but where to start. The ideal path depends solely on the size of your business and the complexity of your interactions.
Let us analyse the three main solutions.
|
Features |
Shopify (native automation) |
Klaviyo (specialised for email & SMS) |
HubSpot (complete CRM, Marketing, Sales and Service) |
|
Primary Function |
Sales platform |
Marketing automation focused on Retention and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) |
Unified CRM for Marketing, Sales, and Service |
|
Data Segmentation |
Advanced on store data (orders, behaviours, and customer value), but with limitations compared to dedicated platforms. |
Highly specialised (real-time behavioural) |
Comprehensive (unification of eCommerce, CRM, Sales, Service data) |
|
Omnichannel |
Native Omnichannel (email, POS, Inbox, etc.); additional channels via partner apps. |
Powerful Email and SMS, with limited integration to other channels. |
Total (email, chatbot, social, landing pages, sales, CRM) |
|
Data Integration |
Basic (often only internal App data) |
Seamless integration with Shopify, focus on marketing data |
Bi-directional with ERP/CRM; 360-degree customer view |
|
Ideal for |
Businesses with simple automations |
Growing brands aiming to maximise customer value |
Structured B2C/B2B companies with marketing, sales, and service teams |
Shopify offers seamlessly integrated basic automations to manage essential workflows. With Shopify Flow, you can automate operational processes (e.g., hiding out-of-stock products), while Shopify Email manages basic sequences (welcome, abandoned cart recovery).
Did you know?
Klaviyo is the specialised platform most loved by brands using Shopify. Its power lies in real-time behavioural segmentation: it tracks what the customer has bought, what they have viewed, and how they interact with emails.
When the business becomes more complex (B2B, B2C with intricate sales cycles, physical stores), the previous solutions show their limitations. HubSpot is an all-in-one CRM platform that scales with you, unifying Marketing, Sales, and Service.
Many brands think that all it takes to do marketing automation is to add software. In reality, the budget to consider includes three main items:
The good news is that you can proceed in steps and that all of this is measurable.
Everything you invest in automation can generate direct returns. So the real question isn’t “How much does it cost?” but “How much additional value can each active workflow generate for my ecommerce business?”.
Implementing marketing automations requires strategy, vision, and technical expertise. Often, the person managing the eCommerce lacks the know-how to orchestrate complex integrations, and that is where we come in.
At power2Cloud, we have cross-functional expertise on the best SaaS solutions. We are a Shopify Plus Partner, HubSpot Diamond Partner, and Klaviyo Partner: this triple certification allows us to advise and implement the automation platform that is truly best suited for you, without bias.
After a detailed assessment, we synchronise your Shopify data with your CRM, ERP, and all the systems you rely on. Together, we design customised flows that increase conversions and retention, analysing the data to optimise strategies and your ROI.