Build a Shopify Win-Back Email Flow

It costs far less to win back an existing customer than to acquire a new one. A win-back flow automatically reaches customers who haven't bought in a while (say 90 days) and brings them back with a timely offer before you lose them for good.

This guide shows you how to build one in Audienceful using a lapsed-customer audience powered by your Shopify data.

What you'll need

A Shopify integration connected to your workspace (so purchase data is available for segmentation).
A lapsed-customer audience: a segment of people who bought once but haven't purchased recently.
Two short emails.

Step 1: Create a lapsed-customer audience

Unlike the event-triggered Shopify flows, a win-back flow is triggered by a contact entering an audience. So first, build the audience that defines "lapsed."

In the People tab, create a new audience with a condition such as:

Has purchased, but not in the last 90 days (using Shopify purchase data with a time window), or
A total spend condition combined with a "no recent purchase" window.

When a customer crosses that 90-day line, they automatically enter the audience, which is what will trigger the flow.

If you start from the template, you'll create or select your lapsed-buyer audience after applying it. Audience conditions are specific to your workspace, so you point the trigger at your own segment during setup.

Step 2: Write your two emails

Email 1: the welcome-back offer. Acknowledge it's been a while and give them a reason to return (e.g. 15% off). Example subject: "It's been a while. Here's 15% off"
Email 2: what's new. Show what's changed since they last shopped: new arrivals, restocked bestsellers. Example subject: "Back in stock & new arrivals"

Personalize with the {{first_name}} merge tag.

Step 3: Build the automation

In the Automations tab, click New Automation:

Trigger: Person enters audience → [your lapsed-customer audience].
Send Email 1, the welcome-back offer.
Wait 5 days.
Send Email 2, new arrivals and bestsellers.
Optionally add a tag like winback.

Pick your theme and click Run.

Step 4: Set a conversion goal (recommended)

Add a goal for a placed order within 30 days. Anyone who buys exits the flow and the purchase is attributed back to your win-back automation, so you can see exactly how much revenue it recovers.

Best practices

Make the offer worth returning for. Lapsed customers need a real reason: a meaningful discount or genuinely new products.
Define "lapsed" for your store. 90 days suits many stores, but a coffee brand and a furniture brand lapse on very different clocks. Tune the audience window.
Don't over-send. Two emails is enough; if they don't come back, let them rest rather than escalating.

Start from a template

→ Lapsed customer win-back template

Browse the full automation template gallery for more ecommerce flows. If you sell subscriptions on Stripe, see the cancelled subscription win-back flow instead.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a "lapsed" customer? Whatever you define in your audience, commonly a customer who bought before but hasn't purchased in 60–90+ days. Because it's audience-based, you control the exact rule.

How is this different from a subscription win-back? This flow targets ecommerce customers who've stopped buying. If you run a subscription business on Stripe, the cancelled subscription win-back triggers on an actual cancellation event instead.