Introduction
This article explains how to use StoreCRM to send cross-sell emails — messages that introduce recommended and related products to customers who have just bought from your Shopify store — and what to watch out for. We will do it by actually building an automation that emails product recommendations to customers after they buy.
The ecommerce market keeps growing, and with more competitors than ever, acquiring new customers keeps getting harder. In that environment, growing an ecommerce store depends on increasing revenue from existing customers and raising LTV (lifetime value).
Cross-sell emails are one of the most effective ways to do that. A cross-sell email is a marketing message that suggests another product related to something the customer has already bought. Because it targets existing customers, it costs far less than acquiring new ones, and recommending products based on what the customer actually purchased makes the marketing efficient.
With StoreCRM, everything from the conditions that trigger the cross-sell email to the email itself takes only a few steps.
You can also see open rates, click rates and email-attributed revenue at a glance inside the app.
Cross-sell emails lift LTV, so put StoreCRM to work and start emailing the customers who have bought from you.
[Video manual] Setting up StoreCRM cross-sell emails on Shopify
Building the email automation (a cross-sell email after purchase)
The goal of the automation
Being clear about what a campaign is for matters. So let us start with the goal of the [cross-sell email after purchase] automation we are about to build.
Increase average customer value Thanking customers immediately after purchase and suggesting products they will find genuinely useful — related items, for instance — encourages an additional purchase and raises LTV.
Building the automation
1. Open the automation list from [StoreCRM app] > [Automations]. Click [Add new automation] at the top right.
2. We are building a cross-sell email that goes out after the purchase completes, so click [Triggered by an order or shipment] > [Email after purchase].
If you would rather send the cross-sell email after shipping, choose [Email after shipping] instead.
3. The automation settings appear; set when the email should go out. Here we used the schedule below. When you are finished, click [Save] at the bottom right.
- Send the thank-you and product recommendation email one hour after the purchase.
4. Next, create the email itself.
Select [Email] > [Email list] in the left-hand menu to open the email list, then click [Add new email] at the top right.
5. On the creation screen, enter an internal name under [Name] and the subject line under [Email title]. When you are done, click [Next].
When you are finished, remember to click [Save].
To include products in the email, use the Shopify collection block. Add it wherever it fits your message.
8. With the email written, attach it to the automation. Click [Automations] > [Automation list] > the automation you created.
9. On the automation detail page, click [Details] > [Edit].
10. Set the email template to the email you just created (it is listed under its internal name). Select it and click [Save].
- Click [Save] and the automation detail page appears. Use the [Status] dropdown to activate the automation, and the emails will go out according to the conditions you set. [Automation results] shows the revenue, open rate and other performance figures for the automation. That completes the automation.
Advanced customisation
About the flow editor
As the previous section shows, a general-purpose automation takes only a few steps to build. Once a store reaches a certain size, though, we often hear that merchants want something more complex — sending different emails depending on a customer's attributes or status.
For mid-sized and larger stores, and for anyone comfortable with CRM, StoreCRM offers a flow editor for building more advanced automations.
In this section we take the [cross-sell email after purchase] automation from above and customise it in the flow editor, covering how the editor works and what to watch out for.
The customisation, and duplicating the automation first
Let us define what we want to build. In this example:
- Customers whose purchased product carries the tag [2024AW_TOPS] receive an email featuring the 2024AW_BOTTOMS collection.
- Customers whose purchased product does not carry [2024AW_TOPS] receive an email featuring the TOPSELLS collection.
Before customising anything, duplicate the automation. When you already have a base automation like this one, duplicating it is the smoothest way to work.
- Click [Automations] to open the list. Click […] to the right of the [cross-sell email after purchase] automation you built earlier and choose [Duplicate] from the menu.
2. Click [OK] in the popup, and you should see a new automation with "(copy)" added to the name. That is the one we will customise. You can rename an automation from its edit screen.
Customising the automation
1. Open the detail page of the automation you want to customise. Click [Details] > [(Advanced) Edit in the flow editor]. Read the warning that appears, and click [OK] if you are happy to proceed.
Once you save in the flow editor, you cannot go back to the simple settings mode. If you want to experiment with an automation that is already live, always duplicate it and customise the copy.
2. The flow editor opens. We want to branch between two emails, so click the + between [Wait] and [Email].
3. In the node picker, click [Condition].
4. The condition node is created. Click it, then click [Add condition].
5. In the condition select boxes, choose [Product] > [Product tag] > [Includes the following tag] and enter [2024AW_TOPS].
6. We want to send a different email to customers whose purchase did not carry the [2024AW_TOPS] tag, so click the + on the NO branch to add an action.
7. In the node picker, click [Send an email].
8. With the node created, select the email template you want to send. Then click the [Email] node on the YES branch and select its email the same way. Finally, click [Save] to save the automation.
9. Once it is saved, click [←] at the top of the screen to return to the automation detail page.
10. Open the [Settings] > [Status] dropdown, activate the automation, and this section is done.
Before you activate an automation, check that no other active automation uses the same trigger. Completely different automations are fine. This matters most with duplicates: make sure you actually want the original to stay active too.
Summary
StoreCRM lets you grow revenue through cross-selling. It does not stop at sending the email — open rates, click rates and per-email or per-automation analysis all live in the same app.
We also offer support with the app's settings and consulting on growing revenue for customers who have adopted StoreCRM.
Feel free to get in touch through the contact form linked below.
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