Repeat customers are the hidden gold of company revenue. Some companies ignore just how powerful a loyal customer base can be, focusing efforts instead on acquiring new shoppers. However, customer acquisition is more expensive than customer retention, and loyal buyers can become your brand’s strongest advocates.

One of the most effective ways to keep customers in your brand’s ecosystem is through an email marketing funnel strategy. “The whole reason why email is so powerful is because it’s a much cheaper delivery and distribution platform than other forms, including SMS and paid ads,” Jacob Sappington, director of email strategy at Homestead Studio, says on Shopify Masters.

Here’s how to map your own email marketing funnel to encourage repeat purchases, build long-term loyalty, and improve overall customer lifetime value.

What is an email marketing funnel? 

An email marketing funnel is a way to structure your email campaigns to nurture leads (potential customers) through clear marketing funnel stages: from initial interest to consideration, through conversion, and on to retention and loyalty. Businesses use email marketing funnels to organize the customer journey step-by-step, based on opt-in forms, product views, checkouts started, or purchases completed.

Unlike traditional marketing funnels that end with the sale, a good email funnel continues earning trust beyond the first purchase. Email marketing funnels give your business a road map for how to guide recipients from distant spectators to loyal, paying customers. It is part art, part psychology; you send relevant content at the right time, triggered by customer behavior or lack thereof.

When you align your targeted content with the customer’s decision-making process at each marketing funnel stage, you build trust, reduce friction, and create an intuitive path that boosts conversion.

Email marketing funnel stages

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Conversion
• Onboarding
• Retention
• Loyalty
• Reactivation

An email funnel is all about guiding customers through each stage of their buyer journey by addressing their pain points and meeting their needs at every step. Here are some examples, tactics, and best practices for each common stage of the email marketing funnel:

Awareness 

Turn strangers into subscribers with a clear value exchange and an easy opt-in. Offer a simple promise (first-order perk, mini-guide, or 10% off), then collect the email with as few form fields as possible. Place the form where the traffic is highest and deliver the promise instantly with a welcome email series that says who you are and includes links to two or three easy steps (shop bestsellers, how we make this, see fit guide, etc.).

Jacob says to be sure to filter auto-opens (like those caused by Apple privacy bots) to avoid inflated metrics. Since Apple implemented Mail Privacy Protection (and similar features elsewhere), many emails are “opened” automatically on the server to hide user data. These security filters can trigger false opens and produce inflated numbers. By contrast, sign-ups and clicks show unmistakable action and are the best ways to measure your growth in brand awareness.

Consideration

Turn curious subscribers into potential customers with short, useful emails rather than sales blasts. Take your subscriber behind the scenes with a founder note that shows what makes your product special, or send a quick email with authentic customer quotes and photos. Keep an eye on click-through rate and product views; these are your signals that interest is growing. 

You can also experiment with email frequency and timing to see what works best for your business and optimize the process. Jacob says that, in general, “four to five emails is good to start over a one- to two-week time frame.” 

Conversion

When shoppers start comparing you to competitors, this is a critical time to remove friction and build buyer confidence. Send plain-spoken emails that include FAQ answers about shipping speeds, easy returns, product sizing, fit guides, and any money-back guarantees. Send a 30-second demo or GIF of your product with reviews and comparisons (“ours vs. others”) to clarify what makes your brand stand out. If there are limited edition colors, seasonal promos, or other time-sensitive offers, use this to build a sense of urgency.

Make buying easy when the purchase intent is high. Moments like when someone views your product but doesn’t take further action could prompt a gentle reminder recapping key product benefits or showing related items. This is also where abandoned cart sequences shine. If someone lets a product linger but doesn’t purchase, you can send an email such as, “Still thinking it over? Here’s what customers love about this piece.” You might also reassure them with details on free shipping or easy returns to nudge them across the finish line. Conversion success looks like increased cart recovery and completed purchases.

Onboarding

Treat the initial purchase as the start of your long-term client relationship. Immediately thank them in your email and provide information on processing time, order tracking, how to reach out with questions, and anything else that might add peace of mind to the purchaser. 

A few days later, send “how to get the most from your product” with three practical tips, such as set-up, care, styling, usage, etc. A week or two in, ask for a quick, low-friction review. A great onboarding process lowers buyer’s remorse, paves the way for positive reviews, reduces support tickets, and establishes a foundational experience for future orders.

Retention 

The goal of customer retention is to turn recent buyers who have just onboarded into lifetime customers. This can include sending emails that provide product education like blog posts, loyalty rewards, customer testimonials, brand updates, and personalized recommendations based on past orders. 

If a customer hasn’t purchased in 30 to 45 days, this is where a win-back email campaign can help bring them back into the fold. “We miss you” sentiments paired with discount incentives may drive traffic back to your online store.

Loyalty

Turn your best repeat buyers into brand advocates with perks that make them feel like VIPs. The focus here is on customers not only buying products but also promoting them to others. Think: early access to sales and perks, referral program incentives, voter input for new product designs, exclusive ambassador communities, and participation at virtual or in-person brand events. Building a strong community of loyal customers boosts customer retention and amplifies your overall email marketing strategy. 

Reactivation 

Some brands include a stage that targets customers who have dropped off, or churned. Wake up dormant customers without hurting deliverability by sending short engagement sequences if someone hasn’t clicked in 60 to 90 days or purchased in the past 90 to 180 days. You might say something like: “It’s been a while. Ready to come back?” or “Don’t let your rewards expire.”

This can include what’s new since they last left, a friendly check-in asking what they are looking for now, and if they still want to subscribe. You might also consider offering a free perk. If they stay silent, reduce sends or sunset them to keep your email list healthy.

How to create an email marketing funnel that converts

1. Build a strong email list
2. Incentivize engagement
3. Simplify your sign-ups
4. Use double-opt-ins
5. Segment strategically
6. Automate follow-through

Use these steps as a guide to direct potential customers through your email marketing funnel: 

1. Build a strong email list

Before you can run effective email campaigns, you need to grow a healthy email list. It’s not just about numbers—the quality of your subscribers matters more than the size of your database. A big list of disengaged people will hurt your deliverability and conversions. A smaller, engaged list of true fans will bring higher lifetime value. Your email funnel is only as effective as the list that drives it—which means attracting quality subscribers is the first step.

2. Incentivize engagement

People are more likely to disclose their email address when they get something useful in return. “It’s just something as simple as saying, ’Do you want 10% off?’” Jacob says. That “micro-yes,” as he calls it, creates a small moment of commitment that he’s seen increases conversion. The ask is so small—“a leading question that someone is likely to say yes to”—to the point where even if they have to go through a couple extra clicks to earn the incentive, the user feels their investment is worth the value and is ready to engage with your brand.

3. Simplify your sign-ups

Make your lead capture form clear, easy, and appealing to your target audience. Keeping forms minimal with just name and email, placing them in high-traffic areas (homepage, footer, checkout, blog), and using exit intent pop-ups to help get visitors’ attention before they leave are just a few ways to maximize sign-ups without disrupting the customer’s experience too much.

4. Use double opt-ins

To keep your listserv clean and avoid spam folders, use double opt-ins. Double opt-ins require the subscriber who signs up on the email form to confirm their subscription in their inbox. This can improve list quality and reduce bot sign-ups and spam complaints. Making sure your email subscribers actually want to be on your email list may seem like an extra step, but it actually reduces overall friction by ensuring a quality list of people who want to hear from you.

5. Segment strategically

Note how people signed up for your email list (discount-seeker versus quiz taker versus blog reader) to enable advanced segmentation (smaller, specific groups based on behavior, preferences, and more). This helps send more personalized emails in the future, which encourages repeat customers.

6. Automate follow-through

If someone signs up via a value-driven incentive (10% off, style guide, free shipping, etc.), be sure to send the welcome email with the incentive inside as soon as possible. Quick delivery builds trust and primes the subscriber to open emails sent by your brand.

Jacob recommends starting with these four foundational automated flows to help guide subscribers through your email marketing funnel and keep them engaged with your brand:

• A welcome email for new subscribers

• A browse abandonment email for visitors who view products but don’t add to the cart

• A checkout abandonment sequence to recover visitors who add an item to their cart but haven’t yet purchased

• A post-purchase flow that reinforces the value of their order, encourages reviews, and sets the stage for repeat business.

Common email marketing metrics

To make these automation flows work effectively, it’s critical to track your key performance indicators (KPIs). These commonly used email marketing metrics will help you understand how well your email campaigns are performing and where you can improve over time:

• Open rate. Open rate measures the percentage of recipients who opened your email.

• Click-through rate. This measures the number of people who click on a link in your email after opening it. 

• Conversion rate.Conversion rate measures how many people completed a desired action, such as purchasing a product.

• Bounce rate.Bounce rate represents the percentage of people who opened a web page but then immediately closed out, or bounced. 

• Unsubscribe rate. Track how many people opt out of receiving emails. 

If you’re not hitting your targets, A/B testing may help get to the root of the issue. Test different subject lines, email copy, and calls to action (CTAs) to see what resonates with your subscribers. Additionally, keep your email design simple and focused on one clear objective per email campaign.