10 Innovative Ways Brands are Winning with Marketing Automation

Marketing automation has evolved. Brands used to set up emails and follow-ups based on basic triggers. Now, it’s become dynamic and predictive, based on real-time data that goes beyond demographic details.

Leading ecommerce and DTC brands are building smart automation strategies using clean data, targeted segmentation, and real-time customer behavior and intent.

This leads to personalized experiences at scale, messaging that anticipates buyer needs, and automated journeys that guide shoppers to the next best action, all without constant manual work.

Brands like Twillory, for instance, leveraged automation to fix their low open and click rates. Tie's email deliverability feature enabled AI-driven domain warming and prospect filtering, fixing the brand’s engagement and targeting only high-intent, engaged customers. These efforts helped Twillory drive 39% more email revenue. 

But how can you set up marketing automations to drive growth for your ecommerce business? In this blog, we’ll break down 10 real-world marketing automation plays that enable brands to set up smarter automation workflows, sharper personalization, and better-timed journeys, driving higher return-on-investment and growth.

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation is still commonly associated with just scheduling emails based on basic customer actions like sign-up or purchase. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. 

Modern marketing automation software connects actions across platforms, automatically adjusting your messaging based on how a shopper behaves, whether they open an email, visit a product page, abandon a cart, or interact with an ad.

When used properly, marketing automation platforms let brands target precisely, personalize better, and convert more visitors without needing manual follow-ups for every step.

Some aspects that marketing automation covers are:

• Email
  
  • Cart recovery
  • Welcome flows
  • Winback campaigns
    
    
• SMS
  
  • Abandonment reminders
  • Sale alerts
  • Shipping updates
    
    
• Social ads (Meta, Google)
  
  • Retargeting visitors
  • Promoting abandoned products
    
    
• Web push notifications
  
  • Cart reminders
  • Stock alerts
  • Flash sale promotions
    
    
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
  
  • Profile enrichment
  • Customer segmentation
    
    
• On-site pop-ups
  
  • List growth
  • Exit intent capture
  • Product recommendations
    
    
• Analytics and tracking
  
  • Behavior tracking
  • Attribution
  • Target audience insights

Prerequisites: Nailing the basics

Before you get started with advanced marketing strategies for automation, you need a strong foundation. If your customer data isn’t clean, connected, and actionable, your automation strategy won’t perform the way it should.

Here’s what you need to nail first:

1. Source & unify first-party data

First-party data is information you collect directly from your visitors and customers through your website, emails, ads, checkout pages, and more. Some ways to source and unify all your first-party data are:

• Identify visitors early, not just buyers: Instead of only capturing leads at checkout or signup, use tools like Tie to map session behavior and capture identifiers like email and phone even before a transaction happens.
• Connect anonymous behavior to CRM profiles: Platforms like Tie can push up to 75% of anonymous clicks directly into your CRM (Customer Relationship Management), like Klaviyo, allowing you to send cart abandonment emails even if the shopper never filled a form.
• Centralize customer interactions: Your CRM or ESP (Email Service Provider) should contain not just names and emails, but session data (pages viewed, time spent, products carted), device types, referral sources, and customer engagement history.

Why is this necessary? If your CRM only captures purchase data but not browsing or intent signals, your automations will stay generic. Instead, you need to focus on triggering flows based on behavior like:

• Shopper viewed Product A → Send “Low inventory” notification
• Shopper abandoned a cart valued at more than $200 → Trigger personalized incentive flow with 30% off

2. Clean list hygiene + deliverability

If your emails are landing in spam or promotions tabs, you won’t get good results, regardless of your messaging. Here are some steps to maintain a clean list for better deliverability:

Step 1: Set up proper email authentication: Set up SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) for all sending domains.

Step 2:.Verify email addresses at the point of collection: Enable two-step authentication to verify subscription and use tools like Tie’s deliverability suite to verify addresses in real time before they hit your CRM.

Step 3: Remove and sunset cold subscribers: Set up logic to suppress or remove subscribers who haven’t opened or clicked in 90–120 days. Send a “last chance” winback email to ensure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to re-engage them.

Step 4: Warm your domains properly: If you’re using a new sending domain, ramp up send volume gradually (start with engaged users only). Deliverability tools like Tie enable this for you.

Step 5: Monitor inbox placement: Don’t just look at open rates. Also track inbox vs spam folder placement through deliverability reports.

3. Map lifecycle stages

You can’t automate with precision if you don’t know where your customer is. By understanding your customers based on where they are in their buying journey with your brand, you can identify the next step they need to take and set up automations that enable them to convert. 

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Here’s how you can plan your marketing automations based on customer lifecycle stages:

Awareness (New visitor)

Goal: Capture the interest of potential customers and identify anonymous traffic to retarget them.

Some automations that you can implement at this stage are:

• Welcome sequences: Trigger them immediately after signup. Personalize user experiences by acquisition source (e.g., different messaging or offer if they came through paid ads vs organic).
• Pop-ups: Show specific offers based on behavior (exit-intent, time on page, product category viewed) or educate them on product benefits.
• Browser abandonment sequence: Trigger emails targeting people who viewed products but bounced.

Engaged (Browsing or considering purchase)

Goal: Move interested visitors closer to conversion.

Automations that you can implement to engage these shoppers and drive them further down the funnel are:

• Behavior-based product recommendations: Send recommendations based on their browsing history.
• Dynamic SMS reminders: Nudge a purchase if they viewed key products multiple times but didn’t add to the cart.
• Live chat prompts: Offer sizing help with a chatbot if they're stuck on a product page for >90 seconds.

Purchaser (Post-transaction)

Goal: Deliver a smooth customer experience and encourage repeat buying.

Once a customer has completed a purchase, set up automations such as: 

• Transactional flows: Send real-time order confirmations and shipping updates with tracking links.
• Cross-sell sequences: Recommend other relevant items based on the purchased product category (e.g., someone who bought a phone gets accessories offers).
• Target first-time buyers with lead-nurturing flows: Build a relationship with new shoppers.

Loyalist (Repeat buyers and brand advocates)

Goal: Deepen loyalty and drive advocacy.

Here are a few automations that will help you convert shoppers into loyal brand advocates:

• Post-purchase educational series: Send these within 1-2 days of product delivery (e.g., tips on how to use the product, maintenance tips, styling ideas).
• Review request flows: Send these requests 7–10 days post-delivery with a small incentive (discount, loyalty points, or a CSR initiative like planting a tree).
• Loyalty program invites: Invite shoppers to your program within the first 5–7 days after their first purchase, ideally as part of your post-purchase email series with exclusive offers for repeat purchases and loyalty.

4. Choose a platform that fits your budget and existing tech stack

You need to pick a marketing tool that integrates easily with your ecommerce platform, checks all your marketing team’s needs, and fits your budget.

Here are some of the top digital marketing automation tools to consider:

Best practices:

• Check for native integrations with your ecommerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento).
• Make sure it offers API access if you plan to pipe external behavioral data (e.g., Tie’s identity resolution data) into your CRM later, so you can build richer customer profiles, trigger more personalized marketing flows, and improve attribution.

Curious what data gaps your ecommerce brand has? Get a free data integrity audit from Tie and see how many anonymous visitors you’re missing today.

10 Innovative automation plays for B2C businesses

There are many benefits of marketing automation, besides reducing repetitive tasks. With smarter automations in place, you avoid missing out on critical touchpoints to engage with your customers and capture more revenue.

Here are 10 automation strategies that leading ecommerce and DTC brands are using right now to streamline their otherwise time-consuming marketing activities. 

1. Capture zero-party data with one click

Instead of guessing what customers want, brands are asking them directly through embedded quizzes and surveys, right after a purchase or during key sessions.

Strategies to capture this data:

• Add a short post-purchase quiz (2–3 questions) immediately after checkout or in the order confirmation email.
  
  • Example: “What other products are you interested in?” or “When do you usually repurchase skincare?”
• Create product finder quizzes to provide an interactive experience for shoppers, helping them find products that are personalized to their needs and preferences, simplifying purchasing decisions.
• Build a preference center inside your welcome email flow, asking about product interests, preferred communication channels (email/SMS), or favorite categories.

What makes it innovative:

• You can capture valuable insights when intent is highest (post-purchase or new signup).
• Responses automatically enrich the shopper’s profile in your CRM, no manual updates needed.
• An immersive path to purchase, making shoppers more likely to convert. 
• Future automation flows (cross-sells, upsells, replenishments) are built based on declared preferences, not assumptions.

Tool recommendations:

• Tie enriches customer profiles with quiz responses and browsing behavior in real time.
• Octane AI integrates quiz answers directly into Klaviyo CRM, allowing you to use it to build customer segments.

2. Build predictive segments with artificial intelligence

AI-powered segmentation uses machine learning to forecast customer behavior, like the likelihood to purchase again, churn risk, or projected lifetime value. It then automatically segments users based on those forecasts. 

How to leverage these segments:

• Set thresholds for predictive LTV (lifetime value) and automatically include high-value users into VIP email flows that offer exclusive loyalty, early access, or upsells.
• Predict churn risk based on last activity date, past purchase behavior, and browse frequency, triggering re-engagement flows early.
• Rather than a fixed 30/60/90 day rule, set up dynamic winback timing based on predicted lapse window, adjusting offers based on risk level.
• Segment shoppers based on likelihood to convert with or without discounts, and tailor incentive strategies accordingly.

What makes it innovative:

• You’re not reacting to behaviour. You’re anticipating it.
• Predictive segments dynamically update based on real-time customer data, so that VIP, churn-risk, or cross-sell segments are always up-to-date without manual sorting.
• It allows you to prioritize high-ROI actions (like high-LTV shoppers most at risk of churning).

Tool recommendations:

• Klaviyo Predictive Analytics for expected churn or LTV.
• Zaius (now part of Optimizely) to predict the next purchase time and value.

3. Create omnichannel cart rescue flows

Cart abandonment recovery is no longer just about one reminder email. The most effective brands now run 48-hour layered omnichannel sequences (email, SMS, and even social DMs) that adjust based on real-time behavior and available data.

Cart recovery sequence:

• First 10 minutes: Trigger the first email with dynamic cart content (items left behind, product images, and pricing).
• After 2 hours: If it isn’t opened or clicked, trigger an SMS with a short, personalized reminder.
• 6 to 8 hours: Trigger a Facebook Messenger or Instagram DM with conversational copy.
• After 24 hours: Resend an email with added urgency using phrases like “Your cart expires soon” or a low-stock alert.
• After 48 hours: Final email or SMS with a small incentive (e.g., free shipping or 10% off) to bring back shoppers who haven’t already been recovered.

If data (like phone number or social ID) is missing, set up fallback logic to automatically route shoppers to the next best available channel without breaking the flow.

What makes it innovative:

• Multi-touch, multi-platform reminders increase the chances of recovery without overwhelming shoppers.
• The system adapts based on available data fields and customer behavior, maximizing your reach.
• Fallback logic prevents flow breaks, making the entire experience seamless.

Tool recommendations:

• Klaviyo lets you build multi-channel automations with conditional branches and dynamic content based on email engagement, SMS opt-in, and predictive data.
• Postscript + Meta integrations enable SMS and social messaging layered with email flows.

4. Launch smart replenishment campaigns using machine learning

Instead of fixed replenishment emails (e.g., 30 days after purchase), machine learning models analyze customer behavior to predict the optimal time for a refill. These predictions are based on order history, the type of product, and individual consumption patterns.

Strategy to set up restock automations:

• Track historical replenishment timing across SKUs (stock-keeping units) and customer segments.
• Build dynamic flows that adjust the timing of reminders based on the product lifecycle and consumption behavior.
• Combine replenishment flows with personalized cross-sells (“Since you're out of [Product A], customers like you also reordered [Product B].”)

What makes it innovative:

• Timing isn't fixed; it's personalized based on real user behavior.
• Models learn from aggregate customer behavior and adjust over time without manual recalibration.

Tool recommendations:

• ActiveCampaign’s Predictive Sending and AI Recipes for replenishment.
• Repeat builds ML-based replenishment schedules automatically.

5. Automate VIP tier rewards and loyalty triggers in real time

Your loyalty program and the experiences you curate around it should not be done manually. Instead, automate loyalty tier upgrades, personalized experiences, and retention triggers based on spend, purchase frequency, or engagement.

How brands deliver better loyalty experiences:

• Set loyalty rules such as “spend $500+ or 3 orders in 6 months → move to Gold Tier.”
• Automatically email perks (exclusive sales, early access, special gifts) based on loyalty milestones that shoppers unlock.
• Use loyalty data for email flows like cart and browse abandonment to offer VIP-only incentives (e.g., free upgrades, surprise gifts) to your top spenders and frequent buyers.

What makes it innovative:

• Loyalty rewards are triggered in real-time based on live behavior, not batched manually once a quarter.
• You can dynamically change your messaging depending on loyalty status, delivering a better experience for your highest valued customers.

Tool recommendation:

Smile.io lets you set up loyalty programs that integrate with Klaviyo flows.

6. Protect deliverability with domain rotation and prospect filtering

Email deliverability is a foundational part of any ecommerce brand’s marketing. Proactively leveraging tactics like domain rotation, prospect filtering, and engagement-based sending allows you to keep your sender reputation high, avoid spam folders, and maintain inbox placement.

How to maintain your email deliverability:

• Rotate domains and subdomains used for sending (especially for cold prospecting or new customer segments) to protect your root domain.
• Actively filter out low-quality or cold prospects before entering them into your email flows.
• Segment engaged vs non-engaged audiences and reduce the frequency or pause campaigns sent to inactive contacts to improve sender score.

What makes it innovative:

• Instead of reacting when deliverability drops, brands build deliverability protection into every automation flow from the start.
• Email quality stays consistent even as volume grows, avoiding deliverability audits and blacklist issues in the future.

Tool recommendation:

Tie's Deliverability Suite enables domain rotation and prospect filtering automatically. For example, Twillory increased their open rates by 39% after implementing deliverability-first sending with Tie.

7. Retarget without cookies by completing anonymous clicks

Many brands can’t uncover anonymous high-intent shoppers, causing them to lose out on real revenue. Identity resolution matches anonymous visitors to real, known customers based on verified first-party data, minimizing your reliance on cookies and letting you use consented data sources to gather more insights into your shoppers.

How does it work?

• When a visitor lands on your site, Tie captures session-level data like device ID, browser fingerprint, IP, and behavioral patterns.
• Tie then uses identity resolution, matching this anonymous session data to a vast, privacy-compliant network of opted-in profiles from trusted third-party sources.
• If a match is found, the visitor is enriched with a known identifier (like email or phone number) and synced to your CRM or ESP in real time.
• You can then sync these enriched audiences to your email flows, SMS campaigns, or paid ad platforms for cheaper and more accurate retargeting.

For example, Dr. Smood used Tie to recognize 44% of its anonymous visitors, adding over 1,000 new emails to their CRM each day.

This let them set up stronger retargeting audiences that included real shoppers they couldn’t reach before, generating over $50K in net new email revenue without adding extra workload for their team.

What makes it innovative:

• Lower ad spend because you're retargeting known users, not relying on incomplete cookies.
• You can retarget users across devices without worrying about cookie lifespan or browser tracking restrictions.
• Your marketing flows are more effective since they are targeting enriched identities, letting you recover more carts and increase your ROI.

Tool recommendation:

Tie maps up to 80% of anonymous clicks back to enriched profiles, adding them to retargeting audiences and letting you effectively target them.

8. Maximize ecommerce growth with Klaviyo’s 2025 releases

Klaviyo launched multiple updates in 2025 that have made it easier for ecommerce brands, especially those running Shopify storefronts, to set up effective marketing campaigns.

New features you can leverage:

• Full native ad integration: You can now sync retargeting audiences directly with Meta and Google without needing third-party pipes.

How to use it: 

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• Create dynamic retargeting audiences from segments like abandoned carts, VIPs, or churn-risk segments and sync them instantly to paid ads.
• Build exclusion lists (e.g., purchasers) to avoid wasting ad spend.
  
  

• Predictive lead scoring: Klaviyo assigns lead scores based on a mix of purchase history, browsing session depth, and engagement, helping you predict which users are most likely to buy or churn.
  
  How to use it:
  
  • Set score thresholds to fast-track high-intent users into flash sale or loyalty sequences.
  • For low-score lead generations, run re-engagement campaigns selectively, avoiding spamming your full list while recovering at-risk revenue.
    
    
• Expanded SMS Capabilities: With more native carrier integrations, SMS campaign deliverability is now faster and more cost-effective in multiple countries.
  
  How to use it: 
  
  • Scale flash sales, shipping updates, and browse abandonment nudges to international audiences without additional carrier costs or delays.
  • Use SMS alongside email in coordinated cross-channel flows.
    
    
• Customer Data Platform (CDP): The platform now stitches browsing, purchase, and ad data directly into unified customer profiles.
  
  How to use it: 
  
  • Trigger hyper-personalized flows—like recommending products based on browsing patterns and past purchases without switching platforms.
  • Set up segmented campaigns based on multi-touch behavior (e.g., viewed but didn’t purchase, clicked ad but didn’t convert)

Why it matters:

• Shopify stores can now manage email, SMS, ads, and retargeting flows, all inside Klaviyo, without needing to manage multiple tools or deal with syncing issues.
• Predictive segmentation is pre-built, removing the need for separate AI-powered platforms.

Klaviyo integrates seamlessly with Tie, allowing you to leverage identity resolution and data enrichment features. This lets you work with an updated CRM that includes deeper demographic and behavioral attributes for powerful targeting and personalization. 

9. Combine different types of data for unified customer journeys

Consolidating all customer actions—site visits, quiz answers, email clicks, ad interactions, purchases—into one unified customer profile.

How brands set up consolidated and accurate customer profiles:

• Connect all data sources (Shopify, Klaviyo, SMS tools, paid media, quiz results) through a platform like Tie.
• Remove duplicate profiles and update regularly.
• Centralize profiles to trigger smarter cross-channel automations based on real-time customer journeys (not just static lists).
• Leverage third-party data by partnering with data enrichment tools like Tie to uncover new identifiers to understand your customers better.

What makes it innovative:

• You stop relying on single-channel actions (e.g., clicked an email means engaged) and instead, track customer intent signals extensively across touchpoints.
• Automations don’t react to one action but are based on a pattern of behaviors, making them more precise.
• You uncover customer attributes you previously didn’t have access to, allowing you to build better segments and personalize smartly.

Tool recommendation:

Tie consolidates valuable insights such as browsing data, quiz responses, purchase history, ad clicks, and email engagement into CRM profiles.

Want to see it in action? Book a demo to learn how Tie improves your customer data.

10. Score leads based on engagement patterns on your social media platforms

Tracking how users interact with your social media marketing efforts (polls, giveaways, UGC campaigns, comments) to feed lead scoring models, automatically adjusting marketing activities based on engagement depth.

How to score leads based on social media engagement:

• Assign weighted scores to specific actions based on intent, like:
  
  • Liking a social media post
  • Completing a poll
  • Commenting on an ad
  • Clicking on a product link
  • Submitting UGC
• Use engagement thresholds to trigger workflows. For instance, move highly engaged social users into fast-track nurturing or direct purchase offers via email/SMS.

What makes it innovative:

• You’re using pre-site intent signals to prioritize leads before they ever visit your store.
• It allows you to retarget shoppers far earlier than competitors that rely only on on-site behavior.
• It allows you to maximize the potential of your social channels.

Tool recommendations:

• Zapier integrations to sync social interactions from platforms like Instagram and TikTok into your CRM or ESP for lead score updates.
• Klaviyo’s custom event tracking allows you to log actions like clicks and form completions from social traffic. 

Measurement & continuous optimization

To increase your ROI from marketing automation, you need to continuously track performance, optimize based on results, and refine your strategy.

Here’s how to set up processes to measure your marketing efforts to improve how you use automation over time.

Tracking campaign performance and analytics

Email open rates are becoming less reliable, especially with privacy updates like Apple Mail Privacy Protection. Focus your analytics on actions that signal real intent and engagement to enable data-driven decision-making, such as:

• Open rates (especially for marketing messages)
• Click-through rates
• Cart recovery rates
• Revenue per email/SMS/ad sent
• Unsubscribe and complaint rates

This lets you optimize based on critical goals like revenue generation and customer activation, not vanity metrics like raw impressions or total email campaign sends.

Set up an effective A/B testing hierarchy

How do you prioritize running A/B tests that deliver more value? Focus on the highest-leverage elements first:

Start by testing subject lines. Once you consistently get strong open rates, move deeper into message structure and channel preference testing.

Watch out for attribution gaps after IOS 17.5

With iOS 17.5 rolling out more privacy features, especially link tracking protection across apps and emails, attribution is getting harder to measure accurately. 

Here's what’s impacted:

• Email open rates: May be inflated, hidden, or unreliable, especially for Apple Mail users.
• Click tracking: Redirect links with UTM parameters may be stripped or anonymized within certain email apps like Apple Mail and Safari, reducing clarity on source attribution.
• Cross-channel journeys: Sessions that move from email to mobile app, for instance, may lose referrer data, breaking funnel attribution.
• Ad platforms: They may underreport view-through conversions and last-touch attribution.
• Geo or device-based targeting: Increased privacy thresholds may degrade location accuracy.

Here’s how to adjust your strategy:

• Shift away from open-rate benchmarks: Use click-throughs and on-site behavior (e.g., product views, add-to-carts) as leading indicators
• Strengthen first-party data capture: Encourage logged-in sessions, preference centers, and owned identifiers (e.g., email, phone) to preserve visibility.
• Rely more on cohort analysis: Track uplift based on customer segments or campaign groups rather than trying to attribute every action to a single source.
• Use identity resolution tools: Platforms like Tie can help bridge anonymous and known sessions.

KPI cheat-sheet for B2C automation campaigns

Here’s a cheat sheet that you can refer to when measuring your automation campaign’s success:

Leveling up with Tie 

If you’re serious about recovering more carts, building smarter segments, and maximizing the value of your first-party data, you need a system that does more than send scheduled emails.

This is where Tie comes in. It helps you with your data enrichment and marketing optimization:

• Identifies anonymous shoppers who abandon without logging in
• Enriches CRM profiles with real-time browsing, quiz, and purchase data
• Boosts deliverability rates through domain rotation and prospect filtering
• Retargets visitors without relying on cookies or outdated tracking methods. 

Beyond generic automations, Tie gives you a complete infrastructure to build revenue-focused, behavior-driven marketing flows across your stack.

Tie helps you implement innovative, behavior-driven marketing automation that turns traffic into revenue. Want to see it in action? Book a demo today.