The B2C email marketing guide for building better customer relationships

B2C shoppers tend to move faster than B2B shoppers, and they expect more than a transactional relationship. Their decisions are often emotional, influenced by timing, mood, social proof, or a well-placed discount.

Klaviyo’s future of consumer marketing report found that 66% of consumers want brands to make them feel valued and understood. That means every email you send is an opportunity to reinforce your brand’s personality and connect on a more human level.

Personalization and timing are everything, here. Consumers don’t just want relevant offers—they expect them. And if your message isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re missing more than half your audience: 53% of retail consumers make purchases on their phones, according to our future of consumer marketing report.

At the same time, privacy regulations are tightening, making it harder to track behavior across channels. Customer acquisition costs keep rising. And while loyalty is more valuable than ever, it’s also harder to earn.

Filson, an apparel and accessories brand, solves these problems by segmenting based on behavioral data and personalizing emails based on customer preferences, which keeps loyal customers coming back again and again. “Email and SMS are really where we make 1:1 digital connections with customers,” says Mike Swanson, retention marketing manager at Filson.

Winning in B2C today isn’t just about pushing promotions. It’s about using smart, well-timed messaging to build a relationship.

B2C email content should be more concise, visually engaging, and emotionally appealing compared to B2B content. Instead of listing technical specifications or emphasizing ROI, B2C email marketing should focus on benefits, lifestyle, and sharing your brand’s story.

Basic demographic segmentation can be useful, but the most effective strategies go beyond age groups and location to include segmentation based on actions, preferences, and value. Here are some proven customer segmentation examples: 

• Behavioral: Think browsing history, cart activity, or email engagement. These segments let you deliver timely nudges—like a reminder for someone who viewed but didn’t buy, or a follow-up for someone who clicked on a promo but didn’t convert.

• Preference-based: Use quizzes, surveys, or account settings to collect explicit preferences. Customers are telling you what they want, and your emails should reflect that.

• Loyalty and VIP: Segmenting by loyalty tier or lifetime value lets you create exclusive experiences—early access, sneak peeks, or high-touch service—that keep your best customers engaged.

• RFM (recency, frequency, monetary value): How recently did someone purchase? How often do they buy, and how much do they spend? Brands using RFM can tailor messaging for loyalists, re-engage lapsed shoppers, and reward VIPs without guesswork.

2xist, a men’s apparel brand, uses RFM segments to re-engage valuable customers who may have otherwise slipped away. They identify the segments that are most likely to churn and send them a specialized retention flow and discount. These email flows drove $15.2K in incremental revenue in 2xist’s first quarter with Klaviyo Marketing Analytics.

Dynamic content blocks let you personalize parts of an email—like product recommendations, banners, or messaging—based on customer behavior and attributes. This is one of the most effective (and scalable) ways to increase engagement.

Instead of sending 10 different emails, you build one that adapts in real-time. That means more relevance, fewer unsubscribes, and better results. Even simple touches, like showing recently viewed items or location-based promos, can make an impact.

Take PhiAcademy, a health and beauty training academy, for example. By using dynamic content and product suggestions in post-purchase flows after a customer has completed a course, they’ve been able to cross-sell more related products and practice supplies. Their Golden Ratio Divider cross-sell flow has a 14.3% conversion rate, and dynamic content has been a time saver for the team.

“The dynamic content blocks and product suggestions are making our emails look far more professional and helping us to become more in tune with our users,” says Claire Barton, content marketing manager at PhiAcademy.

The right automation sequences can help B2C brands target new and existing customers more effectively. Some must-have sequences include:

• Welcome series: Introduce new subscribers to your brand, set expectations, and drive that first conversion. Include your origin story, top products, or a first-time offer.

• Abandoned cart: Recover revenue by nudging shoppers who left items behind. Abandoned cart automations generate the most substantial RPR—up to $42.58 for high-performing companies across ecommerce industries, as Klaviyo’s latest email marketing benchmarks found.

• Browse abandonment flows: Trigger personalized emails when someone views a product but doesn’t add to cart. Gentle reminders + recommendations = high ROI.

• Post-purchase: Say thank you, offer product tips, and encourage repeat purchases. It’s also a great place to ask for reviews or share your referral program.

• Win-back: Re-engage customers who haven’t purchased in a while with a special offer or fresh content. Use RFM segments to target the right folks.

Check out this welcome email example from clothing brand Marine Layer. It welcomes new subscribers to the family by sharing a discount code and reminder about free shipping and returns.

With intelligent branching and conditional splits, you can guide people down different paths in a flow based on their actions, engagement, or even lack of activity.

Clicked but didn’t buy? Send a reminder. Made a purchase? Trigger a personalized thank-you and product education series. Opened nothing at all? Try a win-back with a fresh subject line or offer.

The Klaviyo visual flow editor makes this easy to map out. Weee!, an online Asian grocery store, switched from Mailchimp to Klaviyo to build flows more easily and scale hyper-personalized ecommerce automations. After adopting Klaviyo, they can create flows over 2x faster, without developer support.

Email isn’t the only way your customers hear from you—and they notice when your messaging doesn’t line up. One of the top frustrations for consumers, per the future of consumer marketing report, is inconsistent pricing, promotions, or experiences across different channels.

Your email and SMS strategies should work together, not in silos. According to Klaviyo’s latest email marketing benchmarks, email drives strong average RPR (like $4.26 for abandoned cart emails) while SMS delivers immediacy, with high performers in some industries, like home and garden, seeing click rates over 30%.

The key is to segment customers based on how they interact with your brand and align your messaging across email, SMS, social, and even in-store. Whether someone’s browsing your site or walking into a physical location, they should feel like they’re engaging with one unified brand.

Customer reviews can serve as social proof in your email campaigns to build trust and drive conversions. Post-purchase, you can send product review requests along with automated follow-ups and use the data to enrich your customer profiles.

Home fragrance company Happy Wax used Klaviyo to create review follow-up flows and personalize the review experience. Now, if a customer leaves a review with less than 3 stars, the flow pings the internal customer service team to reach out and offer a new scent, free of charge. In their first 100 days with Klaviyo Reviews, Happy Wax collected 27% more reviews YoY.

Integrating support data into your email strategy can improve customer experience, reduce friction, and increase retention.

With tools like Klaviyo Customer Hub, marketers can tap into real-time service insights like open support tickets, return requests, or delivery delays and use them to tailor email messaging. That means no more sending a promotional email to someone still waiting on a refund.

By using Klaviyo Customer Hub, Ministry of Supply enabled over 650 self-serve support interactions in just 4 months, reducing customer frustration and lightening the load on their support team. And with better visibility into customer needs, their marketing team can send smarter, more targeted messages based on Customer Hub activity.

Email is the perfect channel for celebrating milestones, offering exclusive discounts, or inviting top customers to refer friends.

Identify your VIPs using RFM data (recency, frequency, monetary value) or lifetime value and personalize outreach with tailored rewards, sneak peeks, or early access to new products (more on this next). Promote the program regularly through onboarding, post-purchase flows, and dedicated campaigns.

Exclusive discounts are the main reason people sign up for ongoing communications from a brand, according to Klaviyo’s future of consumer marketing report. Use email to offer:

• Early access to new products or sales

• Subscriber-only discounts and promo codes

• Limited-time perks like free shipping or bundles

• Loyalty rewards or referral bonuses

These offers help increase conversions and build long-term loyalty by showing subscribers that being on your list actually matters.

Here, DKNY’s subscriber-only promo email highlights exclusive pricing.

According to Klaviyo’s latest email marketing benchmarks, post-purchase flows have the highest average open rate (60%) of any email flow. This is your chance to make a great second impression and improve your repeat purchase rate. 

Here are a few ways to engage customers via email after they purchase.

• Reinforce value: Send product tips, how-tos, or care instructions to build confidence and reduce returns.

• Ask for feedback or reviews: Make customers feel heard and build social proof for future buyers.

• Make the next purchase easy: Recommend complementary products, offer loyalty points, or include a limited-time discount to incentivize reorders.

Use automations and segmentation to send highly-tailored messages at the right time. Combine email with SMS marketing to stay top of mind.

Mobile websites are the most popular purchasing channel for B2C shoppers, according to our future of consumer marketing report. That means your emails need to be mobile-first by default. 

Klaviyo email templates are pre-built templates that make it easy to launch campaigns quickly while staying on-brand. Responsive email templates adjust layout and design elements based on different screen sizes and settings to create the most optimal viewing conditions. They make emails more mobile-friendly with: 

• Flexible layouts and scalable images: Multi-column emails automatically adjust to single-column based on a screen’s width. Images should also adapt size for each device. 

• Large, interactive elements: Use large, tappable buttons (not tiny text links) for easier tapping on mobile phones. 

• Large text and even spacing: Mobile users should be able to clearly read everything without zooming in. Headings and margins can prevent cluttered emails. Responsive email templates adjust the spacing automatically.

Check out this example from New West KnifeWorks. The cutlery brand uses ample spacing, a simple black and white color palette, and a large CTA button for their email design. 

The best B2C CTAs feel less like a command and more like an invitation, and the action they’re prompting shouldn’t always be to “buy now.” Encourage readers to take the next right step with a CTA that’s easy, enticing, and aligned with what your customer wants.

Make your CTA visually bold and easy to click (especially on mobile), and consider limiting the choices users have by not including too many competing links.

And just like with subject lines, test different versions to see what resonates. Sometimes even a small change—like switching “See more” to “Shop the collection”—can significantly boost clicks.

To know what’s working (and what’s not), you need to track the right email metrics. Here are some analytics B2C marketers should track, including engagement, conversion, and retention metrics: 

• Open rate: Open rates can generally indicate how well a subject line or your targeting resonates with your audience. Because of recent email privacy changes, open rates can be an unreliable engagement metric.

• Click rate: Learn how compelling your content and CTAs are. A good click rate means people aren’t just opening—they’re taking action. Conversion rate: This core revenue-driving metric refers to the percentage of recipients who complete a desired action (like making a purchase). 

• Revenue per recipient (RPR): Understand how much revenue each email generates on average and compare campaign vs. flow performance.

• Unsubscribe rate: A spike here can signal over-emailing or messaging that’s missing the mark.

• Repeat purchase rate: Measure how well your emails are driving customer retention and long-term growth.

• List growth rate: Healthy growth means your lead generation strategies are working and your audience is staying engaged.

Start by setting a baseline using tools like Klaviyo reporting and analytics. Look at key performance indicators across your top-performing campaigns and flows. This gives you a benchmark to measure against as you iterate. Then, build out a testing and optimization framework.

There are a lot of elements you can A/B test, like: 

• Subject lines: Try different tones, lengths, or value props to boost open rates.

• Send times: Test morning vs. evening or weekday vs. weekend to find your audience’s sweet spot.

• Call to action (CTA): Experiment with wording, button color, or placement.

• Images vs. no images: See if visual content drives more clicks—or distracts.

• Personalization: Test adding customer names, product recommendations, or location-specific content.

When you run a test, pick one variable at a time and give it enough volume to get meaningful results. 

By regularly testing and optimizing everything from email copy to send strategy, you’ll not only improve performance—you’ll also build a smarter, more responsive email program over time.

Use industry benchmarks, like these numbers from Klaviyo’s latest email marketing benchmarks, to evaluate and improve email marketing performance.

And to get an even better picture of how your brand stands against your competitors, compare your email performance anonymously to the top 100 peers in your industry.