Ecommerce email flows.
A playbook with
Max Sturtevant.

Start with the work that moves the business

Max opens the playbook by distinguishing email-attributed revenue from revenue that email actually adds. Someone who was already going to buy can still appear in an email report. The goal is to improve the customer journey and create additional purchases, rather than simply claim credit for them.

His starting point is the basics: acquire subscribers effectively, communicate with engaged people consistently, and build out the core flows. Before investing in intricate product-level segments, check whether the welcome and abandonment sequences are complete. A brand with only one cart-recovery email often has more straightforward work to do first.

The playbook covers welcome, site abandonment, browse abandonment, cart and checkout recovery, post-purchase, and win-back. Suggested cadences and benchmarks are starting points from his experience, not rules that apply to every brand. Product, audience, and buying cycle all affect the right approach.

Pop-ups: the offer, the first step, and the timing

Paid traffic is expensive, which makes the moment a visitor becomes a subscriber valuable. Max recommends testing the pop-up’s offer, timing, design, and copy. Look at performance among the people who actually see the form so that changes in exposure do not distort the result.

One approach is to start with a simple quiz question before asking for an email address. That gives the visitor an easier first interaction and can collect information about what they want. The answers can inform email content and be shared with the advertising team, particularly when connected to subsequent purchases.

Offer framing matters too. Presenting an incentive as something the shopper already has can feel different from asking them to work for it. Test different benefits and ways to describe them: a percentage discount, a dollar amount, a gift, or a mystery offer. Do not assume the usual discount is the best one.

Test the entire acquisition path

In the audience discussion, Max considers gamified forms such as scratch cards and spin-to-win experiences. These can work for some audiences, but the format is not a universal answer. The same applies to when the form appears: a short delay, a longer delay, a scroll trigger, or a particular page may produce different results.

A homepage visitor and someone arriving on a focused product landing page may need different messages. A teaser after a form is closed can give interested visitors a way back to the offer. Keep the experience connected to the journey rather than evaluating the form in isolation.

The key measurement is what happens after the signup. A higher opt-in rate does not automatically mean a better acquisition system. Compare purchases and the quality of the subscribers produced by each version, not simply the number of email addresses collected.

Core flow principles

Max favors a relatively concentrated pre-purchase sequence while a shopper’s interest is fresh. He also separates people who have bought from those who have not. A new subscriber may need a reminder of the welcome offer; a returning customer should not automatically receive the same incentive.

He recommends mixing graphic emails with messages that feel more personal. A simple text email can support a founder’s story or a direct question, while a visual layout can demonstrate the product. In abandonment emails, bring the relevant product high into the message so the shopper immediately recognizes why they are receiving it.

The broader point is to make the message fit the customer’s situation. Cadence, creative, subject lines, and offers need to be tested together against the brand’s audience rather than copied as a fixed template.

Build a welcome sequence with a purpose for each email

For many brands, Max starts with three to five welcome emails sent close together, often daily. The reasoning is that interest is strongest near signup. A long delay before explaining the product or introducing urgency can miss that initial window. Campaigns can continue the relationship after the core introduction.

The content progresses through different jobs: introduce the value and offer, explain how the product works, share customer stories, and compare the product with alternatives. Each email should have a clear reason to exist rather than repeat a long list of benefits.

Customer stories should explain a recognizable problem and what changed. A generic positive review provides less useful context. A founder-style text message can add a more personal voice, and a question about why the subscriber has not purchased can reveal the objection that the sequence has missed.

Manage overlapping flows and longer buying cycles

A shopper can qualify for several messages at once. Max discusses prioritizing cart or checkout recovery when someone shows stronger buying intent, rather than letting every flow continue without regard to the others. Whether browse messages should interrupt welcome content depends on the journey.

Temporarily excluding new subscribers from regular campaigns can keep the introduction coherent, but this is a brand-specific choice. The aim is to avoid competing messages and unnecessary fatigue while still giving the shopper useful information.

A longer decision cycle does not necessarily require an elaborate, drawn-out welcome flow. Early education can address the main objections, while later campaigns continue the conversation. Similarly, quiz questions can be useful for engagement and understanding without creating dozens of small branches that are difficult to maintain.

Make the next step obvious

Common welcome-flow improvements include making the incentive easy to find, keeping it near the call to action, and explaining why the shopper should act. Max also discusses testing how a discount code is presented instead of assuming a standard code is the strongest option.

Text and graphic emails serve different purposes. A personal story or direct question may work well in a plain format. Fashion products and products that require a visual explanation may benefit from imagery. Test the mix according to what the email needs to communicate.

Non-buyer feedback can point to confusion about product choice, price, taste, or other concerns. Use those answers to improve earlier messages and share the learning with the wider business. The highest-value response may be better education for everyone, rather than another narrow automation branch.

Sender identity and welcome timing

The sender discussion centers on making the brand and the person behind a message recognizable. A personal email should still make sense as a communication from the business. The identity and message need to work together.

Max also explains why relative delays can be useful. A message sent 24 hours after signup reaches the subscriber around the time they originally engaged. Fixed sending windows can introduce an extra delay unintentionally. If an early follow-up goes out after four hours, a subsequent 20-hour delay returns the sequence to the next day’s original time.

These examples illustrate how to think about timing, not a universal schedule. The right spacing still depends on the audience and the product.

Separate site, browse, cart, and checkout abandonment

Max distinguishes four levels of intent: visiting the site without viewing a product, viewing a product, adding something to a cart, and starting checkout. Audit the actual trigger behind each flow. A sequence named cart abandonment may in practice be triggered only after checkout starts.

For general site abandonment, a short brand-oriented sequence can offer help and reintroduce the value proposition. Browse emails can show the viewed product, add proof, and help the person explore. Cart and checkout emails should stay focused on the product the shopper already selected rather than introduce unnecessary distractions.

Separate first-time shoppers from existing customers. Reminding a new shopper of an available welcome incentive is different from giving every returning buyer a new discount immediately. For repeat customers, Max discusses testing an incentive later in the sequence instead of making it the opening move.

Recovery creative and discount decisions

Put the dynamic product block high in an abandonment email. The customer should quickly see the item and the action available to them. Test subject lines and how the offer is framed, while judging the result further down the funnel.

A mystery incentive may behave differently in recovery than in acquisition. Someone returning to an existing cart has a shorter path to finding and using the offer than a new visitor who still has to choose a product. That difference in effort affects how the promotion works.

In the Q&A, Max returns to margin and consistency. Test the acquisition offer rather than defaulting to a particular percentage. During a sitewide promotion, align the pop-up and flow messages with the current offer so customers are not receiving conflicting incentives or unintentionally stacking discounts.

Teach usage before asking for the next order

The post-purchase sequence begins with appreciation and reassurance. Max describes an immediate founder-style thank-you, followed by education about use and expectations. A light additional offer can appear, but the central job is helping the customer succeed with what they just bought.

Over the following days, explain how to use the product and reinforce what a good experience looks like. Cross-sells should reflect the delivery timeline. The customer’s actual receipt and use of the product matter more than mechanically sending another sales email on a fixed day.

A later personal check-in can ask how things are going and introduce replenishment when appropriate. Keep first-time and repeat buyers in mind, but do not make the system more complicated than the team can operate. Max’s retention argument is practical: customers who do not use a product are unlikely to need more of it.

Give a lapsed customer a reason to return

A generic “we miss you” message is unlikely to add much if the person has already been receiving campaigns. Win-back needs a reason to re-engage, alongside timing that reflects how often customers normally purchase.

One starting point discussed is a multiple of the typical repeat-purchase interval. If a customer usually reorders after 45 days, a much later outreach can represent a genuinely lapsed relationship. The exact interval needs to be adjusted to the business rather than treated as a universal rule.

Max also explores framing a discount as a specific credit-style incentive with an expiration. The underlying economics, minimum purchase, and offer terms still matter. Test the timing and the presentation, and evaluate the purchases that result.

Build a subscription habit

Subscription onboarding should help the customer establish a routine. Max suggests surveying long-term subscribers to understand how they actually use the product, then bringing those patterns into the early experience for new customers.

A habit may be as simple as connecting the product to something the customer already does each day. Teach the routine and set realistic expectations for the experience. An initial period of more frequent education can ease off as the customer becomes comfortable.

Prioritize the subscription journey rather than sending it alongside an unrelated one-time-purchase sequence. Watch cancellations and customer experience as well as additional sales. Repeated upsells are not a substitute for helping subscribers use and value the product they already receive.

An offer is more than a discount

The discussion turns to brands that prefer not to discount. Max points to product differentiation, story, brand, and new releases as reasons to buy. A stronger offer can also be built from bundles, gifts, free shipping, support, consultations, or a warranty.

His office-chair example highlights benefits that already existed but were not being communicated clearly. A consultation, educational resources, delivery, and warranty can increase perceived value without another price reduction. First make sure customers understand what is already included.

The same principle applies to explaining subscription benefits. Rather than simply asking for a commitment, communicate the value and make the next step fit the customer’s experience.

Test for orders, not just attention

Max closes by prioritizing offer and framing tests. Subject lines affect what people expect from the email, so they can influence more than the open. A version that draws more opens is not automatically the version that creates more business.

Look at purchases and revenue when comparing variations. Creative format and timing are additional levers, but they should support a clear offer and a relevant message. The consistent theme throughout the session is to test in the context of the brand rather than copy a tactic without checking the outcome.