Email Marketing for E-Commerce with Broadcast

Email is consistently the highest-ROI marketing channel for e-commerce businesses. Unlike social media or paid ads, your email list is an asset you own – no algorithm changes, no rising ad costs, and a direct line to people who have already shown interest in your products. This guide walks through how to set up Broadcast for e-commerce, the key email types you should be sending, and how to connect everything to your store.

Setting Up Broadcast for E-Commerce

Create a Channel for Your Store

Start by creating a dedicated broadcast channel for your store. If you run multiple brands or storefronts, create a separate channel for each one. This keeps subscriber lists, email servers, and analytics cleanly separated.

Navigate to Channels and click New Channel. Give it your store name and configure the basics – sender name, default from address, and timezone.

Connect Your Email Servers

For e-commerce, we recommend setting up two separate email servers:

  • Transactional server – For order confirmations, shipping notifications, and password resets. These emails must arrive instantly and reliably. Configure this with a provider optimized for transactional delivery (Postmark, AWS SES, or Resend work well).
  • Marketing server – For promotional campaigns, newsletters, and automated sequences. This keeps your transactional reputation separate from your marketing sends.

Navigate to Email Servers to configure both. Separating transactional and marketing traffic protects your sender reputation – a promotional campaign that gets spam complaints will not affect the deliverability of your order confirmations.

Import Your Customer List

Bring your existing customers into Broadcast via Subscribers > Import or the API. As you import, tag subscribers to organize them:

  • customer – Has made at least one purchase
  • prospect – Signed up but has not purchased yet
  • vip – High-value repeat customers
  • churned – Has not purchased in 90+ days

Store Order Data in Custom Fields

Broadcast’s custom data fields let you store structured information about each subscriber. For e-commerce, this is powerful. When a customer makes a purchase, update their subscriber record with:

  • last_order_date – When they last bought something
  • total_spent – Lifetime value
  • order_count – Number of purchases
  • product_categories – What types of products they buy

You will use this data for segmentation and personalization later. Update these fields via the API every time an order is placed.

Key Email Types for E-Commerce

1. Order Confirmations

Send immediately after a purchase. Use the Broadcast transactional email API:

POST /api/v1/transactional_emails

Include the order details, expected delivery timeline, and a link to track the order. This is the most-opened email you will ever send – use it to set expectations and build trust.

2. Shipping Notifications

Send when an order ships and when it is delivered. Again, use the transactional API for instant delivery. Include the tracking number and a direct link to the carrier’s tracking page.

3. Welcome Series

When someone makes their first purchase, add the new-customer tag to their subscriber record. This triggers a welcome sequence:

  • Email 1 (immediate): Thank them, share your brand story briefly, and set expectations for future emails
  • Email 2 (Day 2): Share tips for getting the most out of their purchase
  • Email 3 (Day 5): Introduce your bestsellers or complementary products

4. Promotional Campaigns

These are one-time broadcasts sent to segments of your list – sales announcements, new product launches, seasonal promotions, and holiday campaigns. Create a broadcast, target the right segment, and schedule the send.

5. Win-Back Campaigns

Build a sequence triggered by a segment of inactive customers (e.g., no purchase in 60 days). The sequence might include a “We miss you” email, a special discount offer, and a final “Last chance” nudge before removing them from your active marketing list.

6. Review Requests

A simple sequence triggered by the purchased tag with a delay. Wait 7-14 days after purchase (enough time for the product to arrive and be used), then ask for a review. Include a direct link to your review page.

Building a Post-Purchase Sequence

Here is a complete post-purchase sequence you can build in Broadcast.

Setup

  1. Navigate to Sequences and click New Sequence
  2. Name it “Post-Purchase Follow-Up”
  3. Set the entry trigger to the tag purchased

Steps

Step 1: Send Email – Thank You (Immediate)

Subject: “Thanks for your order, {{ subscriber.first_name default: ‘friend’ }}”

A warm thank-you email. Reiterate what they ordered (if you pass product info via custom data), share care instructions or getting-started tips, and let them know what emails to expect next.

Step 2: Add Delay – 3 Days

Give the product time to arrive.

Step 3: Send Email – Tips and How-To

Subject: “Getting the most out of your [product]”

Share usage tips, care instructions, or creative ways other customers use the product. This email reduces buyer’s remorse and builds product satisfaction.

Step 4: Add Delay – 7 Days

Step 5: Send Email – Review Request

Subject: “How are you liking your [product]?”

Ask for an honest review. Make it easy – one click to your review page. Mention that their feedback helps other shoppers and helps you improve.

Step 6: Condition – Did They Click?

Add a Condition step that checks whether the subscriber clicked a link in the review request email:

  • If clicked: Add the tag engaged-buyer. These subscribers are your best candidates for referral programs, early access to new products, and VIP promotions.
  • If not clicked: Add the tag quiet-buyer. You can still market to them, but they may need different messaging to re-engage.

Segmentation Strategies for E-Commerce

Smart segmentation is what separates generic email blasts from targeted campaigns that drive sales. Here are segments every e-commerce store should create in Broadcast.

VIP Customers

Build a segment where custom_data.total_spent is greater than a threshold that makes sense for your business (e.g., $500). These customers get early access to sales, exclusive products, and premium support. They are also your best candidates for referral incentives.

Product Category Interest

When customers purchase from specific categories, add tags like bought:electronics, bought:clothing, or bought:home. Then create segments based on these tags to send highly relevant product recommendations. Someone who bought running shoes is much more likely to buy running socks than someone who bought a winter coat.

Engagement Level

Combine purchase data with email engagement. A segment of subscribers who are both active customers (purchased in the last 90 days) and engaged readers (opened an email in the last 30 days) is your highest-value audience. Target your most important campaigns here first.

At-Risk Customers

Create a segment for customers who previously purchased regularly but have gone quiet – no purchase in 60-90 days and no email opens in 30 days. These subscribers need a win-back campaign before they churn entirely.

Connecting Your Store via API

The key to effective e-commerce email marketing is keeping Broadcast in sync with your store. Use the API at these key moments:

On customer signup or first purchase:

POST /api/v1/subscribers

Create the subscriber with their email, name, and initial tags (customer or prospect).

On every purchase:

PATCH /api/v1/subscribers/:id

Update custom_data with the latest last_order_date, increment total_spent and order_count, and add relevant product category tags.

Add tags to trigger sequences:

POST /api/v1/subscribers/:id/tags

Add the purchased tag to trigger your post-purchase sequence. Add new-customer for first-time buyers to trigger the welcome series.

Measuring ROI

Email marketing ROI for e-commerce is straightforward to measure:

  • Add UTM parameters to every link in your emails. Use utm_source=broadcast&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign-name so your analytics tool can attribute sales back to specific emails.
  • Track click-through rates to product pages. High clicks with low conversions might mean your landing page needs work, not your email.
  • Compare revenue per email across campaigns. Over time you will learn which types of promotions and which segments generate the most revenue.
  • Monitor list growth vs. churn. A healthy e-commerce list grows steadily. If unsubscribes outpace new signups, you are over-emailing or sending irrelevant content.

Best Practices

  • Do not over-email. Two to three marketing emails per week is the upper limit for most e-commerce brands. More than that and unsubscribe rates climb. Transactional emails do not count toward this limit.
  • Segment aggressively. A targeted email to 500 interested subscribers will outperform a generic blast to 5,000 every time. Use the data you have – purchase history, browse behavior, engagement – to send relevant content.
  • Test subject lines. For promotional broadcasts, try two different subject lines on a small portion of your list, then send the winner to the rest. Even small improvements in open rates compound over time.
  • Respect unsubscribes immediately. Broadcast handles this automatically, but make sure your unsubscribe link is easy to find. A clean list is a profitable list.
  • Time your sends. For e-commerce, evenings and weekends often outperform weekday mornings because that is when people shop. Test different send times and let the data guide you.
  • Personalize beyond the first name. Use purchase history and custom data to recommend products, reference past orders, and make each email feel relevant to the individual reader.