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For a store, email isn’t a marketing channel bolted on the side. It’s part of the purchase itself. The receipt, the shipping notice, the nudge about an abandoned cart. Shoppers expect all of it, and every one is a moment to sell again. This guide covers the five moments that matter for an online store. For each one: what to send, and the prompt to build it in Brew.
Before you start. You need a verified sending domain and Shopify connected to Brew. Once both are set, every event below is available as an automation trigger with no extra setup. Selling app subscriptions instead? The same patterns work with RevenueCat or custom events from your own checkout.

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New Shopper

Someone created an account or bought for the first time. Engagement will never be higher, so say hello while they’re still looking at the confirmation page. Send one email. Welcome them, set expectations for what you’ll send, and give them one reason to come back. A bestseller, a guide, a first-order perk. Build this as an automation triggered by customers/create.

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Order Placed

The order confirmation is the most-opened email you’ll ever send, and it doesn’t have to be a plain receipt. Send it on orders/create (or orders/paid if you only want to confirm captured payment). Include the order number, items, and total from the trigger payload. Build this as a single-email automation. Brew’s transactional email isn’t generally available yet, so this send respects unsubscribes. If your receipt must also reach unsubscribed customers, keep your existing order-confirmation email running alongside it until transactional ships.
Personalize with the payload: {{ orderNumber }}, {{ totalPrice }}. See the Shopify integration for the full variable list, and Merge Tags for the syntax and fallbacks.

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Abandoned Cart

Most carts don’t convert, and most of that revenue is recoverable within 24 hours. This is the highest-ROI flow a store can run. Send a 2 to 3 email flow starting about an hour after the checkout is created. Lead with the items, not a discount. Save the incentive for the last email, if you use one at all. Build this as a marketing flow triggered by checkouts/create.

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Shipped and Delivered

Shipping emails get opened obsessively. People check tracking links multiple times. Delivery is also the right moment to ask for a review, while the box is still on the counter. Send a shipment notification on fulfillments/create with the tracking link, and a review request on fulfillments/update once it’s delivered. Build these as two separate single-email automations. The same unsubscribe caveat as the order confirmation applies.

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Winning Back Lapsed Customers

Customers who bought once and went quiet aren’t gone. They just haven’t had a reason to come back. Shopify syncs shopify_last_order_at onto every contact. “Hasn’t ordered in 90 days” is a segment you can build in two clicks. Save that audience, then send a win-back. Use a one-off Email, or a one-off flow run against the saved audience if you want a follow-up stage for non-openers.

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Where to Start

If you’re building store emails for the first time, do them in this order:
  1. Order placed: table stakes; every customer sees it
  2. Abandoned cart: the fastest revenue recovery you can ship
  3. Shipped and delivered: highest engagement, sets up the review
  4. New shopper: compounds as your store grows
  5. Winning back lapsed customers: run it quarterly once the rest are live

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