Checklist
Marketing checklist for Shopify stores
12 tasks to turn store traffic into repeat customers, ranked by return.
- 12 tasks
- First win in week 1
- Free to read
Marketing checklist for Shopify stores: what goes on the list?
A Shopify store's marketing checklist has 12 tasks: fix abandoned checkout emails, add reviews with photos, install a post-purchase upsell app, set up Meta and Google Shopping feeds, build a welcome flow, and track repeat purchase rate. Most stores see their first extra sale within 7-10 days of turning on abandoned cart recovery, which typically recovers 5-11% of lost carts.
Last updated 3 August 2026
| Factor | Detail |
|---|---|
| Best first channel | Email flows (abandoned cart, welcome) |
| Typical monthly cost | $50-150 in apps |
| Time to first result | 7-10 days |
| Biggest leak | Abandoned checkouts with no follow-up |
Shopify stores lose most of their revenue to abandoned checkouts and one-time buyers, not lack of traffic. Before spending more on ads, the fixes with the fastest payback are inside the store: recovery emails, reviews, and a smoother checkout.
This checklist assumes you're running Shopify on a Basic or Grow plan with under $50k in monthly revenue. Every task is something one person can do in a week without hiring a developer or an agency.
The checklist
Work down the list, top to bottom.
Ordered by return. Each task names the first step and how you know it's done.
- 01
Turn on abandoned checkout emails
Roughly 70% of Shopify checkouts are abandoned; a 3-email sequence recovers 5-11% of them without any extra traffic.
First step: Go to Settings > Checkout and enable the built-in abandoned checkout email, or install Klaviyo for a 3-email flow.
- Done when
- You can see at least one recovered order tagged 'abandoned checkout' in Shopify orders within 2 weeks.
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free (Shopify) or $20/mo (Klaviyo)
- 02
Add photo reviews to top 10 product pages
Product pages with photo reviews convert 15-30% better than pages with none, and photos matter more than star ratings alone.
First step: Install Judge.me or Loox and email your last 50 customers asking for a photo review with a 10% discount code.
- Done when
- Your top 10 SKUs each show at least 5 reviews with at least one customer photo.
- Effort
- 3 hours
- Cost
- $15-30/mo
- 03
Install a post-purchase upsell app
A one-click upsell shown right after checkout converts at 10-15% and adds revenue with zero extra ad spend.
First step: Install ReConvert or Zipify OCU and set one upsell offer on your best-selling product.
- Done when
- The upsell page appears immediately after checkout and you've logged at least one upsell order.
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Cost
- $15/mo
- 04
Set up the Google Shopping feed
Free and paid Shopping listings put your products in front of buyers already searching for that product, usually the cheapest paid acquisition channel for ecommerce.
First step: Install the Google & YouTube channel app, verify your domain, and submit your product feed.
- Done when
- At least 20 products show 'Approved' status in Google Merchant Center.
- Effort
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Free listing, $10+/day if you run Shopping ads
- 05
Build a 4-email welcome flow for new subscribers
Welcome flows generate 3-5x the revenue per email of regular campaigns because subscribers are most engaged right after signing up.
First step: In Klaviyo, create a flow triggered by newsletter signup: welcome discount, bestsellers, social proof, urgency reminder.
- Done when
- New signups automatically receive all 4 emails over 7 days and at least one has converted to a sale.
- Effort
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Included in email tool
- 06
Add a sticky add-to-cart bar on mobile
Over 70% of Shopify traffic is mobile, and a sticky buy button removes the extra scroll-back-up step that loses buyers.
First step: Install a sticky cart app like Sticky Add To Cart or enable it in your theme settings.
- Done when
- On a phone, the add-to-cart button stays visible while scrolling a product page.
- Effort
- 30 minutes
- Cost
- Free-$10/mo
- 07
Reduce checkout fields to the minimum
Every extra required field in checkout drops completion rate; Shopify's own data shows shorter checkouts convert better.
First step: Turn on Shop Pay and remove optional fields like company name from checkout settings.
- Done when
- Checkout has no optional fields marked required, and Shop Pay is enabled.
- Effort
- 30 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- 08
Launch a Meta retargeting campaign for cart abandoners
Retargeting warm visitors who added to cart but didn't buy costs less per sale than cold prospecting and closes people already interested.
First step: Create a Custom Audience in Meta Ads Manager from 'Added to Cart' events in the last 14 days and launch a $10/day campaign.
- Done when
- The campaign has run for 14 days with at least one tracked purchase.
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Cost
- $10-20/day
- 09
Set up a post-purchase SMS opt-in
SMS has open rates above 90% and works well for restock alerts and flash sales that email misses.
First step: Add an SMS opt-in checkbox at checkout using Postscript or Klaviyo SMS.
- Done when
- At least 5% of new customers have opted into SMS after one month.
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Cost
- $20-50/mo
- 10
Create a bundle offer for your two best-selling products
Bundles raise average order value directly, which compounds with every other channel you run.
First step: Use the Bundles app or a manual discount code to offer 2 top products together at 10% off.
- Done when
- The bundle page is live and has generated at least 3 orders.
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Cost
- $0-20/mo
- 11
Set up a win-back email for customers inactive 60+ days
It's cheaper to reactivate a past buyer than acquire a new one, and a simple discount reminder recovers a meaningful share.
First step: Build a Klaviyo flow triggered by 'no purchase in 60 days' offering a limited-time discount.
- Done when
- The flow is live and has sent to at least one segment with a tracked reorder.
- Effort
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Included in email tool
- 12
Track repeat purchase rate monthly
Repeat purchase rate tells you if marketing spend is building a real business or just buying one-time sales.
First step: Pull the Customer Cohort Analysis report in Shopify Analytics (or Lifetimely) and note the 90-day repeat rate.
- Done when
- You have a written repeat purchase rate number and a plan to check it again in 30 days.
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free (Shopify Analytics)
Mistakes
What goes wrong most often.
Running ads before fixing checkout abandonment
Paying for traffic to a store that loses 70% of checkouts wastes most of the ad budget. Fix abandoned cart recovery and checkout friction first, then scale traffic once the store converts what it already gets.
Collecting reviews with no photos requested
Star-rating-only reviews barely move conversion compared to reviews with customer photos. Always ask for a photo in the review request and offer a small incentive, since photo reviews build trust text alone can't.
Ignoring mobile checkout speed
Most Shopify traffic is mobile, but many stores test checkout only on desktop. Slow-loading product pages or clunky mobile checkout silently kill conversion rate long before customers ever see a discount code.
Questions
The things people ask about this list.
What's the first marketing task a new Shopify store should do?
Turn on abandoned checkout emails first. It takes under an hour, costs nothing on Shopify's built-in tool, and recovers 5-11% of checkouts you're already losing before you spend a dollar on new traffic.
How much should a small Shopify store spend on marketing apps?
Budget $50-150 a month for email, reviews, and upsell apps combined. That covers Klaviyo or similar for email, a reviews app, and an upsell app, which together usually pay for themselves within the first month.
Do Shopify stores need paid ads to grow?
No, not at first. Fixing on-site conversion (checkout, reviews, upsells) often adds more revenue per dollar than ads. Add Google Shopping or Meta retargeting once the store converts well, since ads amplify a leaky store's losses too.
How long until a Shopify marketing checklist shows results?
Expect the first measurable win, usually a recovered abandoned cart sale, within 7-10 days of turning on email flows. Reviews and upsell revenue typically show up within 2-4 weeks as more customers pass through checkout.
What's the biggest revenue leak most Shopify stores ignore?
Abandoned checkouts with no follow-up email. Roughly 70% of started checkouts never complete, and stores without a recovery flow simply lose that revenue permanently instead of recovering even a fraction of it automatically.
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