A complete guide to WooCommerce automated emails

Reading Time: 15 minutes

Running a successful store requires ongoing engagement with your customers. You need to promote sales and product launches, incentivize hesitant shoppers to return to abandoned carts and send coupon codes to thank previous customers for their loyalty. Getting the right message to every single subscriber can seem like an impossible task. 

This is why WooCommerce automated emails are invaluable. When you use a marketing automation tool like Omnisend, you nurture relationships with customers and drive sales, all while saving time and work. All you have to do is create your email campaign and select your audience. Omnisend will do the rest. 

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at WooCommerce automated emails and the type of campaigns to create. We’ll also share the best tools and show you how to get started with Omnisend. 

What are WooCommerce automated emails?

Email marketing automation enables you to send timely, personalized emails based on specific customer behaviors and triggers. Instead of manually creating and sending each email, you set up workflows in advance to ensure that customers receive relevant messages at the right time.

Customer actions (or behaviors) might include making their first purchase, leaving items in the cart, or subscribing to your newsletter. You can set a different automated email series to trigger for each action.

For example, if someone adds products to their cart but doesn’t complete a purchase, they’ll receive an automated reminder after 24 hours. 

Let’s look at some key automated email campaigns and real-world examples:

1. Abandoned cart emails

Quite often, customers will add one or more items to their cart and then leave your shop without buying them. This doesn’t always mean there’s something wrong with your products or the checkout process. Perhaps they want to think about it, or they got distracted and forgot about the purchase altogether. Some shoppers might even save items in their cart to complete the order once they have money to spare. 

Whatever the reason, abandoned cart emails can bring them back. Even a simple reminder is effective. To add a bit of urgency, you could let them know that certain products are limited and may soon be out of stock.

Another good strategy is to show them what they’re missing out on by not buying your products or services. Here’s how Hulu nudges visitors to complete their trial subscription with a reminder of everything included in the package:

If you want to take things a step further, consider offering incentives like discounts or a free gift, like Grove Co. does in this email:

Be strategic about when to send your abandoned cart emails. If you do it too soon (like a minute later), you might come across as pushy and put off customers. If you wait too long (like two or three weeks), the shopper may lose interest in the products or find something similar elsewhere. 

2. Post-purchase emails

These emails enhance customer satisfaction and encourage repeat business. They include order confirmations, shipping updates, product care tips, or thank you discounts. 

There are different ways to get creative and boost sales with post-purchase emails. For example, you might use your shipping update email to promote your latest arrivals or remind customers to sign up for your newsletter to receive exclusive offers.

You could also send a post-purchase email, like this one from Target, that asks the buyer to leave a review:

Ideally, send this email one or two weeks after a purchase since the customer will have received their products and had time to use them. 

3. Welcome series

When a visitor subscribes to your newsletter, welcome them with a series of emails. During this welcome campaign, you should introduce them to your brand and outline the benefits of being on your list.

For example, subscribers might receive regular offers and be able to order products before they’re live on your website.

You can also set up a welcome email series for customers who create an account on your website. In this case, you might include a coupon code in the email to encourage first-time purchases, as Libro.fm did here:

Try not to overdo it with your welcome email series. Sending too many could overwhelm your customers and prompt them to unsubscribe.

Space them out evenly (like one every few days) and ensure that every email provides value, whether it’s a coupon code or a reminder of a limited-time offer.

4. Win-back campaigns

These emails aim to re-engage customers who haven’t interacted with your store in a long time. Perhaps it’s been three months since their last purchase, and you want to encourage them to check out your latest products and place another order. 

A good way to do this is to offer an exclusive deal, like a buy one, get one free offer. Here’s an example from Flamingo Estate:

If you’re unable to give them a discount, try re-engaging subscribers by sending them a valuable piece of content, like a checklist, how-to video, or simply some advice. Just remember to promote a relevant product or service in your email.

For instance, if the email demonstrates how to best clean a piece of jewelry, link to the silver cleaning kit on your store. 

Email automation features built into WooCommerce 

By default, WooCommerce sends automated emails to your customers. These mainly include transactional messages like order confirmations, refund updates, and password resets.

To see these emails, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Emails:

WooCommerce also gives you some control over these emails. You can enable or disable them, and customize the subject line, email heading, and body text:

If you want to further customize your WooCommerce emails, you’ll need to install an extension. Here are a few options:

• Email Attachments: This plugin lets you add unlimited attachments to your messages
• Email Customizer Pro: Access more customization options for brand colors, images, videos, links, and more
• Waitlist for WooCommerce: Let customers register to receive an email notification when out-of-stock products become available again
• Order Status Manager for WooCommerce: Create additional order statuses and send automatic emails for each one

Best email automation tools for WooCommerce

As you may have noticed, WooCommerce only provides transactional emails out of the box. If you want to set up marketing campaigns like post-purchase emails and a welcome series, you need a WooCommerce email marketing plugin.

Look for a tool with advanced automation features and different trigger options, like when a customer requests a refund or uses a particular coupon code. 

It should also have audience segmentation based on subscriber behavior. For example, if someone purchases from a specific category, like kitchen appliances, they might receive a series with tips for functional kitchen design and complementary product recommendations. If they don’t make a purchase for six consecutive months, they might receive a series introducing your latest products and offering a one-time discount code.

A great email marketing plugin will also provide pre-built templates and a drag-and-drop builder that makes designing the perfect email super simple.

Analytics is another important feature. Your email marketing tool should give you in-depth reports on all your campaigns. This way, you’ll know what’s working and what isn’t, and you can optimize future campaigns accordingly. 

With the above in mind, let’s look at the best email automation tools for WooCommerce.

Omnisend

Omnisend is a powerful automation tool for both email and SMS marketing campaigns. It integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce and helps you build an email list with engaging popup forms and landing pages.

It offers customizable pre-built email workflows, along with dynamic content blocks that automatically pull in relevant information and product recommendations for each subscriber. 

Features

• Advanced, real-time audience segmentation that groups customers dynamically based on factors like shopping behavior and email engagement
• Pre-built, customizable automation workflows for welcome emails, post-purchase sequences, abandoned cart recovery, re-engagement campaigns, and more
• Seamless email and SMS integration so you can send targeted messages across multiple channels for higher engagement
• A wealth of professional, customizable newsletter templates
• A comprehensive reporting dashboard to track campaign performance, ROI, and customer engagement
• A drag-and-drop email builder so you can create on-brand emails in minutes, no coding required

Pros

Omnisend packs powerful, advanced features into an interface loved by beginners and professionals. It offers more than just email marketing, so you can deploy highly-effective, multichannel campaigns with less work. Finally, even its free plan includes all standard features. 

Cons

Some Omnisend tools are advanced and are most suitable for professionals. However, there are plenty of tutorials to get anyone started fast.

Pricing

The Standard plan starts as low as $11.20/month. The Pro plan starts at $41.30/month, offering unlimited emails and bonus SMS credits equal to the monthly price of your plan. There is also a generous free plan, offering all standard features and 24/7 customer support, allowing you to send up to 500 emails every month. 

Mailchimp for WooCommerce

The Mailchimp for WooCommerce extension connects your online store to Mailchimp, a tool that allows you to create everything from abandoned cart reminders to personalized product recommendation emails. 

The drag-and-drop builder helps you design engaging emails without having to work with code, and automation tools give you the power to tailor content to your audience and drive the best results. You’ll also benefit from AI-assisted content optimization, centralized audience insights, and A/B testing to drive better decision making.

Features

• AI content generator and assistant
• Predictive segmentation to help you understand your audience’s demographics, lifetime value, and more 
• Real-time statistics on your email campaigns
• A content optimizer that provides actionable suggestions for improving your content

Pros

It’s designed for beginners, with user-friendly tools like an intuitive builder and generative AI to create emails faster. 

Cons

The free plan limits the number of automations you can use, so you’ll likely need to start with a paid account. 

Pricing

The extension is free, but you’ll need a Mailchimp account. The Standard plan starts at $20/month for up to 500 contacts. If you have between 500 and 1,500 contacts, you’ll pay $45/month.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo is a data-driven email marketing tool that integrates with a variety of ecommerce platforms, including WooCommerce. It centralizes all your marketing channels, including email, SMS, paid ads, and push notifications.

Klaviyo uses AI to create workflows based on your needs. All you have to do is describe what you want, and it will generate your campaign, complete with a subject line, segments, and email content.

Features

• More than 160 customizable email templates
• Pre-built ecommerce triggers like ordered product, fulfilled order, started checkout, and placed order
• Dynamic coupons for creating personalized offers
• Predictive analytics by AI to optimize future campaigns

Pros

It offers deep segmentation that updates in real time, allowing you to create highly-targeted campaigns.

Cons

Klaviyo is an expensive marketing tool. The free plan is limited to 250 recipients and 500 monthly emails. 

Pricing

Plans start at $20/month for 251-500 contacts. If you have more than 1,000 contacts, you’ll pay at least $45/month. 

AutomateWoo

AutomateWoo is a dedicated WooCommerce marketing automation solution. It offers various email campaigns like abandoned carts, follow-ups, personalized coupons, and birthday messages.

With this WooCommerce extension, you can also reward customers for leaving reviews, target inactive customers, set up “refer a friend” campaigns, and let shoppers know when their credit card details are about to expire.

Features

• Customizable workflows, allowing you to create triggers, rules, and actions
• Reports on opens, clicks, and conversions
• Integration with WooCommerce Subscriptions, Bookings, Memberships, Wishlists, and Points and Rewards

Pros

Unlike some other marketing solutions, there are no limits on the number of emails you can send with an AutomateWoo plan. 

Cons

There is no drag-and-drop builder, and essential features like segmentation and analytics are not very advanced. 

Pricing

This is a premium extension that costs $159/year. 

MailPoet

MailPoet is an email marketing plugin for WordPress websites, with dedicated tools for WooCommerce stores. These include newsletter signup forms at checkout, abandoned cart emails, welcome messages, and more.

Note that MailPoet also sends transactional emails, so you won’t need to install an SMTP plugin to ensure deliverability. 

Features

• A built-in WooCommerce email customizer that lets you add your own branding to emails
• Tailored messages based on the specific product purchased or its category
• Analytics that measure the revenue per email

Pros

MailPoet integrates seamlessly with WordPress, so you won’t need to leave your website to create email campaigns. 

Cons

MailPoet is primarily a newsletter plugin, so there aren’t many segmentation and personalization options for ecommerce emails.

Pricing

The free plan supports up to 500 subscribers and 5,000 monthly emails. The Business plan starts at $10/month for 500-1,500 contacts. 

Retainful

Retainful is an ecommerce email marketing tool that provides automated workflows for customer actions like first purchase, abandoned cart, newsletter signup, and more. It syncs with various platforms, including WooCommerce.

If you already have an email list on other platforms like Mailchimp, Zapier, Brevo, or Kit (formerly ConvertKit), you can easily migrate it to Retainful and synchronize your customer data. 

Features

• Segmentation by demographics, purchase history, email engagement, and more
• A drag-and-drop email editor and pre-made templates
• Advanced analytics that show you which email campaigns bring in revenue

Pros

This marketing tool facilitates team collaboration, so you can invite your employees or colleagues to work on your email campaigns. 

Cons

Integrations with other platforms are only possible with a paid plan.

Pricing

There’s a free plan for 500 emails/month. The Starter plan costs $19/month for up to 2,000 contacts, while the Growth plan costs $49/month for the same amount of recipients. 

Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce 

As the name suggests, this plugin helps you recover abandoned carts on your WooCommerce store. You can select the period after which a cart is deemed abandoned, and it will automatically send reminders via email and SMS.

The plugin also lets you send coupons with your emails and track abandoned and recovered carts. 

Features

• A table that lists all abandoned carts with details
• Reminder logs for all accounts
• Email rules for setting up different recovery messages at various intervals

Pros

You get a lot of configuration settings for your abandoned carts emails, especially with the pro version of the plugin. 

Cons

SMS reminders are only available with the paid plan.

Pricing

Use the plugin for free or buy it for $40. 

The benefits of WooCommerce automated emails

Creating automated email sequences can take a bit of effort. Once they’re ready, however, they work for you around the clock. With the right tool, you can minimize the upfront work and enjoy the benefits even faster. Here are some of the many reasons to implement automated emails for your WooCommerce store:

They save you time

Automated emails eliminate the need to send individual messages manually. This allows you to focus on growing your business.

Once set up, these emails run in the background. You may only need to revisit their content occasionally to ensure that it’s still relevant.

They increase revenue

By sending well-timed messages, like abandoned cart reminders and product recommendations, automated emails help recover lost sales and encourage repeat purchases. 

This leads to higher conversion rates and increased revenue. Automated emails are also fantastic tools for cross-selling and upselling.

They improve customer satisfaction

Customers appreciate receiving relevant, timely information. Whether it’s an order confirmation or a shipping update, automation ensures a seamless shopping experience.

Sending automated emails with tips for making the most of their purchase, how to request support, or where to find complementary products are all helpful for customers and add value to their experience. 

They increase overall engagement

Automated emails keep customers engaged by delivering personalized content based on their actions and preferences. 

For example, you might create an automated offer that targets customers who purchased coffee from your store, and another for those who bought chocolate instead. 

With automated emails, you can also tailor product recommendations based on a customer’s previous purchases. If they always shop for baby clothes (rather than sportswear or evening gowns), they’ll receive emails for products in that category.

They improve retention

Improve your retention rate with automated follow-ups, like asking customers to leave a review to unlock a reward. Personalized recommendations are another way to retain customers and encourage repeat purchases. 

Why Omnisend is the best email automation tool for WooCommerce

Omnisend is a comprehensive solution that automates a variety of campaign types across several important channels — email, SMS, and push notifications. Whether you want to text customers about a flash sale, spark new interest from a disengaged subscriber with a jaw-dropping email offer, or increase average customer lifetime value with automated upsell emails, Omnisend lets you do it all.

You’ll find pre-built automation workflows for dozens of campaigns, all proven to work.

Omnisend also facilitates advanced segmentation. For example, you can create a campaign for customers who have purchased or not purchased an item within a specified timeframe. 

Omnisend offers pre-built segments to help you save time, but you always have the option to create your own custom audience:

Omnisend is an SMS and email marketing tool, so you can use it for both channels. For example, you might send reminders about items via text messages and email, or send an SMS if an email hasn’t been opened within 24 hours. 

Another standout feature is A/B testing, allowing you to create two versions of the same campaign to see which is more effective. You can test the subject line, the discount or offer, the copy, images, even the sender name you’re using. 

Omnisend also gives you detailed WooCommerce reports on your campaigns. It presents data in a clear way, with essential metrics like open, click, and placed order rates. You can even compare campaign performance across different channels and time periods.

Most importantly, Omnisend integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce. It offers a plugin that you install on your website to connect your store to your Omnisend account. 

Then, when you create a targeted campaign, like offering a discount to customers who haven’t made a purchase in over three months, Omnisend will use your WooCommerce order data to send the message to shoppers who meet this criteria. 

How to send WooCommerce automated emails with Omnisend 

Now, here’s how to send automated emails with Omnisend. For this tutorial, we’ll assume you already have a WooCommerce store. 

If you don’t, read this guide on setting up a WooCommerce store. 

In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New Plugin, and look for “Email Marketing for WooCommerce by Omnisend.” Click on Install Now, followed by Activate:

A new item will appear in your dashboard menu: Omnisend for WooCommerce. Click on it, then select the Connect your account button.

If you don’t have an Omnisend account yet, click on Create new account and follow the setup instructions. 

Your WooCommerce store and Omnisend account are now synced, so go ahead and create your first automated campaign. 

In your Omnisend account, go to Campaigns and click on Create campaign. Then, choose the campaign type you want to set up. In this case, it’s Email:

Now, enter some information about your email, like the subject line and the sender’s name:

Next, choose the type of email you want to set up. Under Automation, you’ll find options like Order Confirmation, Abandoned Cart, Survey, and Thank You Email. 

For example, if you select Abandoned Cart, you’ll get a selection of templates to use:

When you choose a template, you can customize your WooCommerce email in Omnisend’s intuitive builder:

Edit existing elements in the template, rearrange them, and add new items like buttons, discounts, product listings, and more:

When you’re ready, click on the Preview & test button to see what your email looks like to recipients. It’s also a good idea to test your WooCommerce email before scheduling it:

If everything looks good, select Save & choose recipients. Now, send the email to all subscribers (ideal if you’re creating a general newsletter) or to a particular segment (for targeted campaigns).

If you don’t have any segments yet, click on Create a segment. Omnisend will take you to another page. Select Segments and Create segment:

Omnisend offers various pre-built segments, but you can build your own by selecting Create from scratch:

If you select a pre-built segment, you have the option to modify the rules and conditions:

When you’re done with your segment, review your campaign to make sure that everything is correct. You could also send another test email. 

Conclusion 

WooCommerce automated emails enable you to send the right message to the right customer at the right time. 

WooCommerce natively offers transactional emails like order confirmations and shipping updates. However, you’ll need to install a plugin to create targeted marketing campaigns like a welcome email series or post-purchase emails. 

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