The Shopify Welcome Email Series: What to Send and When
A Shopify welcome email goes out the moment someone joins your list or places a first order, while their attention is at its highest. Most stores need two welcome flows, not one: a three-email series over five days for newsletter and popup subscribers who haven't bought yet, and a two-email welcome over three days for first-time customers. The first earns the first order. The second earns the next one.
This guide covers what each email does, when it sends, example subject lines and how to add a welcome discount. The setup steps use Audienceful, our email platform for Shopify, which has both flows as ready-made templates. We make it, so we're not neutral. For every other flow a store should run, start with our guide to Shopify email flows.
Two welcomes, two jobs
A new subscriber has given you an email address. A new customer has just paid you. The same email wastes the moment for both.
| Subscriber welcome series | New customer welcome | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets it | People who sign up through a form or popup | First-time buyers, when Shopify creates their customer record |
| Starts on | Subscribed | Customer created |
| Emails | 3 over 5 days | 2 over 3 days |
| Job | Earn the first order | Earn the second order |
| Offer | A gift in email 3 | 10% off the next order in email 2 |
| Audienceful template | Welcome series | New Shopify customer welcome |
Shopify also creates a customer record when someone signs up through your theme's own newsletter form, so those signups start the customer welcome. Either write its first email so it greets new subscribers and new buyers alike, or switch on Audienceful's own signup forms and popups, which feed the subscriber series and keep the two welcomes cleanly apart.
Where new subscribers come from
On a Shopify store, subscribers usually come from:
- A popup. Shown after a delay, after a scroll, after a few page views, or on exit intent. A discount offer is the classic reason to sign up. See how popup forms work.
- An embedded form in your footer or on a landing page. See signup forms.
- The checkout opt-in. In your Shopify admin, under Settings → Checkout, turn on the email marketing checkbox so buyers can subscribe as they pay. This is what lets your customer flows reach them at all, because marketing email only goes to people who said yes.
In Audienceful, your forms and popups appear on the store through the app embed. On the Shopify integration page, click Enable in theme, toggle on Audienceful JavaScript and save. The same switch lets Audienceful recognize shoppers who arrive from your emails.
The subscriber welcome series: 3 emails over 5 days
| Sends | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Welcome | Right away | Deliver what you promised, set expectations |
| 2. Your story | 2 days later | Why the store exists, what makes the products different |
| 3. A gift | 3 days after that (day 5) | A code and your best-sellers, to earn the first order |
Email 1: the welcome
Example subject lines:
- Welcome to [Store] 👋
- You're in. Here's what to expect
- Your 10% code is inside
Say thanks, say what you'll send and how often, and link to your best-sellers. If your popup promised a discount, put the code here, not in email 3: someone who signed up for 10% off expects it today. Then use email 3 for something else, such as free shipping or a bundle.
Email 2: the story
Example subject lines:
- The story behind [Store]
- Why we started making [product]
- What goes into every [product]
One story, one or two photos and one button. Tell them who makes the products, why, and what you do that others skip. End with a question they can answer by replying, such as what brought them to the store.
Email 3: the gift
Example subject lines:
- A little something to get you started 🎁
- 10% off your first order
- Our best-sellers (and a code to try one)
Now ask for the order: the code, three or four best-sellers, one button. A best-selling product feed fills this block for you and stays current, so the email always shows what's selling now.
The new customer welcome: 2 emails over 3 days
| Sends | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Welcome | Right away | Thank them, introduce the brand behind the order |
| 2. Most-loved products | 3 days later | Recommend what to try next, with 10% off |
Email 1: welcome to the brand
Example subject lines:
- Welcome to [Store] 🛍️
- Thanks for your first order, {{first_name}}
- Your order's in. Here's who we are
Shopify's order confirmation already covers the order, so don't repeat it. Use this email for what makes you different, how to reach a person, and the products customers come back for.
Email 2: what to try next, with a code
Example subject lines:
- Our most-loved products, just for you
- What to try next
- 10% off your second order
The template recommends three products (a signature best-seller, a customer favorite and a starter option) and gives 10% off with the code HELLO10. Keep the offer modest. This person already bought at full price.
If you also run a Shopify post-purchase email flow, a first-time buyer gets both on the day of their order. Add a one-day wait before the welcome's first email so the two don't land in the same hour, and keep each one to its own job: the post-purchase email covers the order, the welcome covers the brand.
The welcome discount: create it in Shopify, add it to the email
The code lives in Shopify, and the email carries it:
- In your Shopify admin, go to Discounts and create an amount-off code, such as WELCOME10 or HELLO10.
- Under Maximum discount uses, tick Limit to one use per customer.
- Copy the code into the email, and point the button at the code's shareable link so the discount applies at checkout without typing.
Everyone in the flow gets the same code, so leave its end date open and don't promise a deadline the code won't keep.
Set it up in Audienceful
- Install Audienceful from the Shopify App Store via our Shopify page. Your account is created from the store, with no signup form, and the plan is billed on your Shopify invoice. Customers, orders and products sync in.
- Switch on the app embed and publish a popup or form, so the subscriber series has people to welcome.
- Apply the templates. In Automations, pick Welcome series and New Shopify customer welcome. Both arrive paused, with the trigger, waits and copy in place. You can change any of it.
- Edit the copy. Swap in your brand name, story and code. Add a Product List block set to a best-selling product feed, which refreshes on every send and links each product to its page.
- Switch them on. The Free plan runs one automation at a time, Essentials runs three, and Growth is unlimited.
The built-in AI agent can also build the sequence from a one-line brief, for you to approve (welcome sequence recipe). Step-by-step help is in the Shopify welcome flow guide.
How to measure it
Audienceful credits each Shopify order to the email that drove it: the last click within 5 days, clicks ahead of opens, bots excluded and refunds netted out. You see revenue per automation, so you can compare the subscriber series with the customer welcome directly, and track what share of store revenue comes from email. More on the method in email revenue attribution.
Audienceful is free up to 1,000 contacts, then paid plans start at $32/month billed yearly ($37.50 monthly) for 3,000 contacts. Install it on your Shopify store and apply both welcome flows in minutes: Shopify email marketing, without the Klaviyo bill.
FAQs
How many emails should a Shopify welcome series have?
Three for new subscribers (welcome, story, offer) and two for first-time customers (brand welcome, what to try next). More than that tends to run into your regular campaigns. Audienceful's templates use exactly these counts, and you can add or remove emails.
Should a Shopify welcome email include a discount?
If your popup promised one, yes, and in the first email. If not, a modest code in the last email gives the series a clear ask. Create the code in Shopify, limit it to one use per customer, and add it to the email.
What's the difference between a welcome email and an order confirmation?
The order confirmation is a Shopify notification that every buyer gets, with the order details. A welcome email is marketing: it introduces the brand and suggests the next purchase, and it goes to people who agreed to marketing email. Keep both.
Can I run both welcome flows at the same time?
Yes. They start on different events, so a subscriber who later places a first order gets the customer welcome as well. In Audienceful, running both needs a paid plan, because the Free plan runs one automation at a time.
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