The Top Personalized Marketing Automation Strategies for 2025

Customers enjoy personalized experiences. Historically, only the most upscale brands could afford to invest in staff for live consultations or custom products.

Today, with the rise of personalized marketing automation, any brand can create a customer experience tailored to the individual consumer.

Benefits of personalized marketing automation

Most large-scale ecommerce stores have embraced marketing automation. There are a few reasons this is an attractive strategy for retailers, including:

Low cost, high ROI

Marketing automation tools typically charge a fraction of a cent to send an email. SMS costs about one cent per message, on average. Since campaigns focus on people who’ve already consented to receive communications, their audiences are lower-funnel and more likely to lead directly to increased sales. In fact, Shopify POS retailers experienced an equivalent omnichannel sales growth of more than 150% quarterly on average year-over-year.

Measurability

Most marketing automation campaigns include links prompting customers to take direct, measurable action, such as making a purchase or booking a consultation. Since many customers click links to landing pages in messages, marketers can track the activity generated by each message using UTM tags. 

Personalized experience

Filters and branches in automation can help your campaigns better comply with each customer's preferences. This ensures subscribers get messages when they’re ready for them, and perhaps more importantly, subscribers do not receive notifications when they don’t want them. Some subscribers may be happy to hear from you twice a week, whereas others might prefer not to hear from you more than once a month.

Email list health

Personalized emails from marketing automation campaigns tend to have high open and click rates because customers can often tell the correspondence is tailored to their preferences. This improves overall email deliverability from your domain, setting you up for future marketing success.

Understanding your customers with data

First-party data provides valuable insights to inspire personalized campaigns. This data allows you to understand your customers and create more effective marketing campaigns. According to IDC's research featured in Shopify's Seeing Around Corners report, when asked about their top priorities, 74% of business leaders chose "Developing a better understanding of customers' preferences and behaviors.”

Most marketers struggle with fragmented customer data spread across different databases. They typically use between 7–10 different technologies to run personalization programs, spending hours reconciling pieces of customer identity.

Shopify solves this by providing one unified customer profile that includes:

• All browsing data
• Purchase history
• Order information
• Data from all your selling channels
• Custom data fields that work with any app in your marketing stack

For example, when a customer interacts with your store through chat, browses products, or makes a purchase, all that information comes together to help you understand their interests and needs. You can then use these insights to create more relevant marketing campaigns and better shopping experiences.

Segmenting your target audience for effective personalization

With your data unified, you can start identifying different customer behavior patterns. Some might be regular shoppers who buy monthly, while others only purchase during sales. Some may spend more on certain product categories or respond better to specific types of marketing.

Create groups based on:

• First-time vs. returning customers
• High-value vs. occasional buyers
• Product category preferences
• Shopping frequency

When done right, segmentation makes customers feel understood rather than just marketed to. It's about creating genuine connections by recognizing and responding to what different customers actually want.

Gathering and using customer data for personalized marketing

Next, you’ll need to gather data about your customers beyond their email address. Using tools like Shop Pay, which is trusted by over 150 million shoppers, you can collect customer data throughout the checkout process. For example, you can collect shipping and billing information, phone number, and credit card details. 

On average, 43% of any US-based business’s customers are Shop Pay users, with 32% for Canada, 25% for the United Kingdom, and 31% for Australia.

You can also create custom metafields to collect other types of data, such as:

• Product specifications such as part numbers, color swatches, and launch dates
• Customer details like birthdays or loyalty status
• Order information such as delivery dates

Metafields can be added to products, collections, customers, orders, and other parts of your store directly from your Shopify admin.

Shopify also automatically updates your customer data. Every time your customer interacts with your brand, their profile updates automatically, whether they're:

• Shopping in your physical store through Shopify POS
• Browsing your online store
• Making purchases through marketplaces
• Engaging through partner integrations (like Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or Attentive)
• Using Shop Pay anywhere on the internet

For example, if a customer updates their shipping address in your physical store, that information instantly updates across all channels. If they purchase through a marketplace, that transaction history is automatically added to their profile. This real-time data synchronization guarantees you're always working with the most current customer information for your marketing efforts.

Businesses that maintain accurate customer data see their customer acquisition costs drop significantly. Depending on your industry, your customer acquisition costs become 1.3 to 1.9 times more efficient than industry averages.

Creating buyer personas for tailored marketing strategies

With Shopify, you can build detailed, data-driven personas that reflect how your customers actually shop and interact with your brand across all channels. Shopify’s segmentation tools let you define and group customers based on their behaviors and attributes. You can create personas based on:

• Shopping patterns across online and in-store purchases
• Average order values and purchase frequency
• Channel preferences (do they mostly shop in-store, online, or through marketplaces?)
• Product category preferences
• Response to marketing campaigns
• Geographic and demographic data
• Loyalty program engagement

For example, if you notice through your unified data that a significant portion of your customers make their first purchase in-store but then move to online shopping for repeat purchases, that becomes a key characteristic of one of your buyer personas.

Once you've identified your key personas, Shopify's platform helps you put them to work:

1. Create targeted Shop Campaigns for specific customer segments
2. Customize storefront experiences based on customer profiles
3. Automate marketing messages that align with persona behaviors
4. Adjust inventory and merchandising strategies based on persona preferences
5. Design loyalty programs that resonate with different customer types

💡 Did you know? Brands running Shop Campaigns experience on average a 2.2x increase in sales on Shop compared to brands without campaigns.

Creating personalized shopping experiences

Personalization should extend across your entire marketing stack. All tools and partners should work together using the same unified customer data model.

Shopify solves this by giving you one unified customer model that all your tools can work with. Whether you're using Shopify's built-in features or bringing in your favorite apps like Klaviyo or Yotpo, everyone's working with the same customer data. This means you can:

• Show product recommendations that actually make sense based on what customers have browsed and bought
• Let customers pick up exactly where they left off with saved carts (helpful for reducing cart abandonment)
• Create special discounts for specific groups of customers (like your VIPs or first-time buyers)

The results speak for themselves: merchants using this unified approach see some impressive numbers. For example, in the beauty industry, customer acquisition costs are 1.9 times more efficient than the industry average when using Shop Campaigns with this unified approach.

Personalized marketing automation example

You can create robust, highly personalized marketing automation campaigns by combining triggers, actions, and filters or branches. Here’s a simple example of a personalized marketing automation campaign for new customers of a skincare brand. The goal is to encourage them to become repeat customers through automated marketing materials.

1. Trigger: A customer places their first order.
2. Action 1: Send a custom receipt email with information on when they can expect their order to arrive.
3. Trigger: Wait five days.
4. Action 2: Send an email with tips for how the customer can make the most of their new product.
5. Trigger: Wait 30 days.
6. Branch: If the customer profile shows they live in a city where your brand has a retail location, run Action A. If not, run Action B.
• Action A: Send an email suggesting they visit the nearby retail location.
• Action B: Send an email suggesting they re-order online.
7. Filter: Remove customers who place another order.

Eight types of personalized marketing automation

1. Welcome campaigns
2. Post-purchase upsell and cross-sell campaigns
3. Win-back campaigns
4. Cart abandonment campaigns
5. Birthday and anniversary campaigns
6. Personalized storefronts
7. Smart segmentation 
8. Automated retargeting 

Personalized marketing automation can take many forms, and there are a handful of message types ecommerce brands can benefit most from. Consider the following a personalized marketing automation starter kit:

1. Welcome campaigns

A new email or SMS subscriber triggers a welcome campaign. This type of campaign typically focuses on nurturing subscribers toward their first purchase with a mix of product education, promotions, and managing sales objections.

2. Post-purchase upsell and cross-sell campaigns

These campaigns, triggered after a customer makes their first purchase, encourage the customer to make an additional purchase.

The goal of an upsell campaign is to encourage the customer to make a second purchase of a higher-priced or higher-commitment product. For example, after a purchase, a supplements brand delivers an automated email informing the customer of the benefits of an auto-renewing order.

Cross-sell campaigns focus on selling complementary products. For example, apparel retailer DUER sends personalized emails to customers who’ve purchased their jeans, encouraging them to consider a matching shirt or belt.

3. Win-back campaigns

Brands might determine that if a customer hasn’t made a purchase over a given period, such as a year, they’ve lost the customer, meaning they don’t expect the customer to purchase again. They can then create a win-back campaign to encourage the customer to return and make another purchase. These campaigns typically include focused messaging, such as a win-back-specific promotion featuring a time-limited discount.

4. Cart abandonment campaigns

Subscribers who come close to making a purchase and then decide not to are some of the most likely prospects, since they’ve already indicated intent. By sending tailored emails to these potential customers, you can rope them back in to finish their purchase, and address common questions, or even offer them a discount to get them over the line.

5. Birthday and anniversary campaigns

Sending customers a discount or free bonus on their birthday (or the anniversary of their first purchase, or another meaningful date) is a great way to develop brand loyalty. Note, this is most effective if your business collects the required data (like their birthday) and if the discount is more substantial than other discounts your brand offers.

6. Personalized storefronts

When customers log in to a storefront, retailers can deliver highly personalized shopping experiences. This can include showing insightful product recommendations, saved carts, highlighted discounts, or available store credit. 

For example, a customer who frequently browses a specific product category might see those items featured prominently on their homepage, or someone with store credit might see their available balance displayed prominently during their shopping experience.

7. Smart segmentation

Segmentation lets retailers precisely define what customer attributes matter most and take specific actions based on those segments. Retailers can create dynamic segments based on purchase history, browsing behavior, or customer lifetime value. These segments can then power personalized experiences across all touchpoints.

You can segment based on:

• Purchase behaviors (specific products purchased, order frequency)
• Email engagement (opens, clicks, spam reports)
• Geographic location (country, state/province)
• Custom attributes through metafields
• High-value customer identification

Real results show the power of smart segmentation. For example, Airsign saw a 30% increase in conversion rate when they identified the segment in Shopify, created a discount, and communicated with customers in a very personalized way.

8. Automated retargeting

Retailers can set up automations based on specific behaviors or conditions to engage with customers. A business might establish an automated workflow to contact customers who previously purchased items that typically need support or replenishment after a certain period. This outreach could include personalized tips, complementary product recommendations, or targeted discounts.

With Shopify Audiences, retailers can drive up to 2 times more retargeting conversions for every marketing dollar spent on retargeting using custom Retargeting Boost lists. Additionally, merchants can cut customer acquisition costs by up to 50% using Shopify's targeting tools.

Four tips for personalized marketing automation

Every brand has its unique customer journey, meaning the perfect personalized marketing automation strategy will differ from business to business. But there are a few best practices that apply to all campaigns:

1. Put yourself in your audience’s shoes

Every brand has a different relationship with its customers, and different expectations about how much its customers want to hear from them. If you sell a consumable product, your audience may want to hear from you more regularly. If your brand sells few products, or if you only expect your customers to make a single purchase over multiple years, your audience may be less keen to receive messages regularly.

2. Practice good list management

With multiple marketing automation campaigns across numerous channels, keeping track of which subscribers are getting which messages can quickly become complicated. Consider the following list-management principles:

• Have an accessible subscriber preference page.
• If your business has multiple email marketing automation lists (e.g., one for new product updates and another for offers and promotions), clarify which list customers are subscribed to.
• Include generalized filters to ensure subscribers in multiple campaigns don’t accidentally receive numerous emails from you on the same day.

3. Integrate your systems

Integrate multiple subscriber data sources for the most effective campaigns. Many ecommerce brands integrate marketing automation software with an ecommerce platform like Shopify, a customer relationship management (CRM) system, a subscription app, and a customer feedback app to give a fuller picture of their customers’ behavior.

💡 TIP: Shopify has a suite of tools that serve as marketing automation software with no integration needed. Or browse the Shopify App Store for apps that make integrating customer data and functionality exceptionally easy.

4. Iterate and test over time

Marketing automation campaigns provide excellent data about what messages subscribers are opening, clicking, or purchasing from. They also offer the opportunity to A/B test different strategies. Use this data to understand more about your audience and improve your campaign’s key metrics.

Case studies highlighting the benefits of personalized marketing automation

Rest

Rest, a bedding company focused on "hot sleepers," achieved $30 million in annual sales within two years of launching on Shopify Plus, despite entering a highly competitive market. 

The company leveraged Shopify Functions to automate bulk discount creation and customize checkout processes, resulting in an 8% increase in conversion rates and a 12% boost in upsell conversion rates. Through Shopify Flow, they automated inventory management and order processing across multiple international markets, reducing manual management by 40% and cutting multisite management staffing needs by 20%. 

The implementation of Checkout Extensibility also allowed Rest to offer more payment options and improve cross-selling, contributing to a 10% increase in average order value.

👉 Read Rest’s story

JOTT

JOTT, a French outerwear brand, migrated from Prestashop to Shopify in 2022 to overcome technical limitations during high-traffic periods and improve their ecommerce capabilities. 

The company implemented several key solutions including Nosto for AI-powered merchandising, Yotpo for customer reviews, and Shopify Payments for streamlined checkout, leading to a 10% increase in purchase completion rates. 

Since the migration, JOTT has tripled their ecommerce share of total sales and successfully handled peak traffic periods that were five times higher than their historical records, particularly during their winter sales launch. 

Shopify's robust architecture provided JOTT with the stability needed to support their international expansion plans while maintaining smooth customer experiences even during major traffic spikes.

👉 Read JOTT’s story

Blueland

Blueland, a sustainable cleaning products company, adopted Shop Campaigns within 48 hours of their launch to find cost-effective growth channels beyond their website. 

The implementation was highly successful, with Blueland seeing a 22 times increase in Shop app sales between 2022 and 2023, while achieving a 4% higher average order value compared to their website and a 7.5% increase in customer lifetime value. 

Notably, Shopify's ability to exclusively target new customers and require minimal management time—less than 30 minutes per week—made it one of Blueland's most profitable third-party acquisition channels, leading the brand to increase their advertising budget allocation to Shop Campaigns.

👉 Read Blueland’s story

Sell more with personalization marketing campaigns through Shopify

Personalized marketing automation is constantly evolving. As new technologies emerge, businesses will have even more opportunities to connect with their customers on a personal level. Shopify is committed to providing businesses with the tools they need to stay ahead of the curve.

By using personalized marketing automation, businesses can create shopping experiences that are more engaging, relevant, and profitable. Shopify is a platform that can help businesses of all sizes achieve these goals.