Shopify Retention Emails: VIP, Birthday and Thank-You Flows

Shopify retention emails are automations in Shopify Messaging that keep existing customers coming back: a birthday email with a discount code, a welcome when a customer reaches your VIP segment, and thank-you emails after the first and second purchase. Each starts from a template, sends only to customers subscribed to email marketing, and depends on data you have to collect first, such as birth dates or a VIP rule that fits your store.

The templates and triggers come from Shopify’s Help Center page on creating marketing automations, read on October 23, 2026. The advice on what to write is ours.

Retention emails Shopify can send for you

All four send email only. Create them on a desktop: in Apps > Messaging > Automations, click Create automation, choose the template, click Edit email to change the content and Send test to check it, then Turn on. To change timing later, open the automation and use Edit workflow. Every email counts toward the 10,000 free Messaging emails a month on the Basic plan and higher.

Win-back emails have their own guide: win-back email. The thank-you and first-purchase upsell are covered with the other post-purchase emails in post-purchase emails. This article focuses on the two that need setup work: birthdays and VIPs.

Collect birthdays

The birthday automation reads the birth date standard metafield on each customer. Customers without a birth date don’t get the email. Shopify’s suggestion is to collect it with the Shopify Forms app using a custom input field that fills the metafield.

To collect birthdays:

1. Install Shopify Forms (free) and create or edit your signup form in Apps > Forms.
2. Add a custom input field for the birthday that fills the birth date metafield, as Shopify’s template note suggests, and keep it optional; people can sign up without sharing it.
3. Say why you ask, next to the field: “Tell us your birthday and we’ll send you a gift code.”
4. Submit the form once with a test address and check that the customer record shows the birth date.
5. Create the Celebrate customer birthday automation and make the discount code in Discounts before you set it in the email.

Existing customers won’t have a birth date. A campaign to subscribers inviting them to add it through a form page fills the gap over time. When an existing customer submits a form with a different email or phone number, their record keeps the old one, and other fields such as marketing consent might not update either. Test with a real existing customer account before you send that campaign.

Adjust the VIP segment

The Welcome VIP customers automation fires when a customer joins your VIP segment. By default that means a third order and at least $1,000 USD spent in total, or a VIP tag. That threshold fits stores with a high order value; for a store selling $25 products, few customers reach $1,000 within three orders.

Edit the segment’s rule to match your numbers. One way to pick it, with illustrative figures: if your average customer orders 1.4 times and spends $70 over their lifetime, a rule such as “3 or more orders and at least $150 spent” picks out repeat buyers without making the segment too large. Check how many customers the segment includes in Customers before turning the automation on. The tag route is for customers you choose by hand, such as wholesale-sized buyers or people who helped you at launch. More on segment rules is in email segmentation.

What to put in each email

Our advice for each, written to Shopify’s general rules for marketing emails (under 200 words, the main point in the first two scrolls on mobile, the offer in text rather than only in an image):

• Birthday. A short greeting, the code, and how long it’s valid. A week or two is enough time without letting it sit forever. No product grid needed; let them choose.
• VIP welcome. Thank them in plain words and give them something other customers don’t get: early access to the next drop, a direct email for questions, or free shipping on their next order. In our view a discount isn’t the only option, and a VIP who gets one in every email learns to wait for it.
• Thank-you after the first order. Help them use what they bought: care instructions, setup tips, who to contact.
• Thank-you after the second order. Ask for a review, with one link.

When a loyalty app adds something

Messaging covers the emails. A loyalty app adds what Messaging doesn’t: points for purchases, reward tiers that customers can see in an account page, referral rewards. If you want customers to collect something over time, compare the options in Shopify loyalty program apps. If you only want to thank and reward repeat buyers by email, the templates above are enough. The email and popups hub has the related guides.

FAQ

Can Shopify send birthday emails? Shopify Messaging has a Celebrate customer birthday automation that sends a discount code on the customer’s birthday. It needs the birth date standard metafield, which you can collect with a Shopify Forms custom field.

How does a customer become a VIP in Shopify Messaging? A customer joins the default VIP segment after their third order once they’ve spent $1,000 USD or more in total, or when they’re tagged VIP. You can change the segment’s rule to fit your store.

Do retention emails go to all customers? Marketing automations send only to customers subscribed to email marketing. Customers who didn’t opt in still get order notifications, but not these emails.

Do I need a loyalty app for retention emails? You don’t need one for birthday, VIP, thank-you and win-back emails, which are Messaging templates. A loyalty app adds points, tiers and referral rewards.