Effective Upselling & Cross-Selling via Email on Shopify

Table of Contents

Introduction

This article explains how to use StoreCRM to send cross-sell emails to customers who have purchased products on Shopify. We’ll walk through how to create a scenario that introduces recommended or related products to actual customers, along with key points to keep in mind.

In recent years, the e-commerce market has continued to expand, leading to increased competition and making it more difficult to acquire new customers.
To grow your online store under these conditions, it’s crucial to boost sales from existing customers and increase their LTV (Lifetime Value).

One highly effective strategy for increasing LTV is cross-sell emails.
Cross-sell emails are marketing emails sent to propose products related to those the customer has already purchased.
Because these emails target existing customers, they are less costly than acquiring new ones. By recommending related items based on previous purchases, you can implement highly efficient and targeted marketing.

With StoreCRM, setting conditions for cross-sell emails and creating the emails themselves can be done in just a few simple steps.

Additionally, StoreCRM allows you to easily view key analytics—such as open rates, click-through rates, and revenue generated from each email—right within the app.

Sending cross-sell emails can significantly help improve customer LTV, so be sure to take advantage of StoreCRM to run targeted email campaigns for your existing customers.

[Video Manual] [Shopify] How to Set Up Cross-Sell Emails with StoreCRM

Creating an Email Scenario (Cross-Sell Email Triggered by Purchase)

About the Purpose of the Scenario

It is very important to clearly define the objective of a marketing strategy. Let’s first confirm the objective of the [Cross-Sell Email Scenario Triggered by Purchase] that we are going to create.

Increase in Customer Unit Price
By sending a thank-you message immediately after a purchase and recommending products related to the purchased item that the customer may find valuable, you can encourage additional purchases and expect an increase in LTV (Customer Lifetime Value).

Create the Scenario in Practice

➀[StoreCRM App Screen] > [Scenarios]
Click to open the list of scenarios.Click [Add New Scenario] at the top right of the screen.

➁Since we are creating a cross-sell email scenario triggered after a purchase is completed, click [Triggered by Order or Shipping] > [Send Email After Purchase Completion
* If you prefer to send a cross-sell email after shipping is complete, please select the scenario from [Send Email After Shipping Completion].

➁Since we are creating a cross-sell email scenario triggered after a purchase is completed, click [Triggered by Order or Shipping] > [Send Email After Purchase Completion]
* If you prefer to send a cross-sell email after shipping is complete, please select the scenario from [Send Email After Shipping Completion].

・Send a thank-you email and a product recommendation email 1 hour after a purchase.

④Create the email to be sent.
From the left-hand menu, select [Emails] > [Email List] to open the list of emails, then click [Add New Email] at the top right of the screen.

⑤The creation screen will appear. Enter an internal name in [Name] and the email subject in [Email Title].
Once you have finished entering the information, click [Next].

⑥The email will be created, and the email detail page will open. Click [Body] > [Details].

⑦The email editor screen will open. Drag and drop content to create your email using your preferred layout. Once you’re finished, don’t forget to click [Save].

If you want to include product information in the email, you can use the Shopify Collection block. Implement it as needed depending on the situation.

⑧After creating the email, set it to the scenario.
Go to [Scenarios] > [Scenario List] > [Created Scenario] and click on it.

⑨The scenario detail screen will open. Click [Details] > [Edit].

⑩Set the email created in the previous step as the template for the email. (The internal name will be displayed.)
After selecting it, click [Save].

⑪When you click the [Save] button, the scenario details will be displayed.
Click the dropdown under [Status] to activate the scenario. The email will then be sent according to the conditions you set.
*You can check the scenario’s performance, such as sales and email open rates, from [Scenario Results].
This completes the scenario setup.

Advanced Scenario Customization

About the Flow Editor

Creating general scenarios can be done easily in just a few steps, as introduced in the previous section. However, as your store grows in scale, many users express the desire to build more complex scenarios—such as sending different emails based on customer attributes or statuses. StoreCRM offers a feature called the Flow Editor, which is designed for mid- to large-scale stores or CRM-savvy managers. It allows for the creation of more advanced and customized scenarios. In this section, we will use the [Cross-Sell Email Scenario Triggered by Purchase] created earlier as a base to demonstrate how to customize scenarios using the Flow Editor, while also explaining how to use it effectively and what to watch out for.

About Customization Specifications and Scenario Duplication

First, we will define the specifications of the scenario to be customized using the Flow Editor. This time, we will proceed with the customization based on the following specifications.

- For customers whose purchased product includes the tag [2024AW_TOPS], send an email introducing the 2024AW_BOTOMS collection.
- For customers whose purchased product does not include the tag [2024AW_TOPS], send an email introducing the TOPSELLS collection.

As a preparation step before performing the actual customization, duplicate the scenario. When you already have a base scenario like in this case, using the scenario duplication feature allows you to customize it smoothly.

①Click [Scenarios] to open the scenario list. Next, click the […] icon to the right of the scenario [Cross-Sell Email After Purchase Completion] created in the previous step. When the menu appears, click [Duplicate].

➁A popup will appear. Click [OK], and if a scenario with “(Copy)” added to the name is created, the duplication is complete.
We will customize this duplicated scenario.
* The scenario name can be changed from the scenario edit screen.

Scenario Customization

①Open the detail screen of the scenario you want to customize. Click [Details] > [Edit with Flow Editor (Advanced)].
A warning message will appear—please read it carefully, and if there are no issues, click [OK].

Once a scenario is saved using the Flow Editor, you cannot revert to the simplified editing mode. If you want to test changes on a scenario currently in use, be sure to duplicate the scenario before customizing it.

➁The Flow Editor screen will open. Since we want to create conditional email branching, click the ＋ icon between [Wait] and [Email].

③The node selection screen will appear. Click [Conditional Branch].

④A conditional branch node will be created. Click the conditional branch node, then click [Add Condition].

⑤The condition selection box will appear. Select [Product] > [Product Tag] > [Includes the following tag] in order, then enter [2024AW_TOPS].

⑥For customers whose purchased products do not include the tag [2024AW_TOPS], we want to send a different email. Click the ＋ icon on the NO path of the conditional branch to add an action.

⑦The node addition screen will appear. Click [Send Email].

⑧A node will be created, so select the email template you want to send. Then, for the [Email] on the YES path of the conditional branch, select the appropriate email as well. After that, click [Save] to save the scenario.

⑨Once saving is complete, click the [←] at the top of the screen to return to the scenario detail screen.

⑩Click the dropdown under [Settings] > [Status] to activate the scenario. This completes this section.

When activating a scenario, make sure that no other scenarios using the same trigger are currently active. If the scenarios are completely different, this is not an issue. Especially when activating a duplicated scenario, be sure to check whether the original scenario should remain active.

Summary

By using StoreCRM, you can expect to increase sales through cross-selling. This single app not only enables you to send emails, but also allows you to analyze each email and scenario based on metrics such as open rates and click-through rates. StoreCRM also offers support for app-related settings and consulting services to help increase sales for our clients. Feel free to contact us through the inquiry form at the link below: Contact Form

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