How to launch a Shopify store marketing plan in 30 days
A day-by-day 30-day marketing plan for a new or stalled Shopify store: goal and baseline, email capture, core flows, search basics, first campaigns and one ad test.
What this is for
A new store owner can spend a month reading about marketing channels and end it with nothing switched on. A 30-day plan fixes the order: the things that keep working without you (email capture and automated emails) go first, the things that take weeks to show results (search) start early, and the things that cost money every day (ads) come last and small.
At the end of the month you will have a baseline to measure against, two ways of collecting emails, a welcome series and an abandoned checkout flow running, your key pages tidied for search, a handful of campaigns sent and one small, controlled ad test. That is a working marketing system you can build on, not a finished one.
Time needed and what you need
Time needed: about 20 hours over 30 days. Roughly an hour a working day: the heaviest days are the flow setup in week one and the first campaigns in week three.
- A live Shopify store with products, prices, shipping and policies in place
- A Klaviyo account connected to the store through Klaviyo's Shopify integration
- A Google account for Search Console, and access to your domain settings
- A small ad budget you could lose entirely without it hurting, if you plan to run the ad test
The steps
The day ranges overlap on purpose. Start each block on its first day, even if the one before is not quite finished.
1. Days 1 to 2: pick one goal and write down the baseline
Choose one goal for the month, such as first 50 orders from people you do not know, or 1,000 email subscribers. Then note today's numbers from Shopify: sessions, orders, conversion rate and the size of your email list. Write two sentences about who your customer is and why they would buy from you rather than anyone else. Every later step checks against those sentences.
2. Days 2 to 4: set up measurement and Search Console
Add your store to Google Search Console and submit your sitemap. You do not need Search Console to appear in Google, but it is the only place Google tells you which searches show your store and what is stopping pages being indexed. Decide on a UTM naming scheme for every link you will share this month; the free UTM builder keeps it consistent. source, checked 28 September 2026
3. Days 3 to 7: start collecting emails in two places
Add a sign-up form to the store with a clear reason to join, and check where your theme's own footer form sends people. Many Shopify themes have one, and it should feed the same Klaviyo list your welcome series will use. Klaviyo lists are double opt-in by default, which means new subscribers confirm by email before they count; leave it on for your main list unless you have a reason not to. source, checked 28 September 2026
Then turn on the email marketing checkbox in Shopify's checkout settings, so buyers can opt in as they order. Leaving every region unticked by default means everyone chooses for themselves, the safer choice while you learn the rules in your markets. source, checked 28 September 2026
4. Days 5 to 10: switch on the welcome series and abandoned checkout flow
These two flows work every day without you. Build the welcome series first, using the guide to building a welcome series, then the abandoned checkout flow. If you are importing an old list of customers or friends, set the welcome series to manual during the import, or every imported contact gets the first email however long ago they signed up. source, checked 28 September 2026
5. Days 8 to 14: tidy product pages and search basics
Take your ten most important products and collections. Give each a clear title tag and meta description written for what people search, check every product image has alt text, and make sure each product description answers the questions customers ask before buying. Start now because search is slow: Google says some changes show within hours and others take months, and it suggests waiting a few weeks before judging. source, checked 28 September 2026
- Product titles: what it is, then what makes it different
- Collection titles: the phrase a shopper would type
- Descriptions: size, material, use, delivery, returns
6. Days 12 to 21: send your first campaigns
Plan three or four campaigns for the rest of the month using the guide to planning a monthly email calendar: your story, your most popular product, a how-to or care guide, and customer photos or reviews once you have them. Send about one a week. Resist a launch discount on every email; a new store that discounts from week one teaches customers its real price is lower.
7. Days 15 to 28: run one small, controlled ad test
Pick one channel and one product or angle. On Meta, that means one campaign with a broad audience and three to five ads that differ in the hook, not in five different products. Set a daily budget you could lose entirely, let it run at least a week without edits, and judge it on cost per order against your margin, not on clicks. Only after this test should you decide whether ads deserve a bigger share of next month.
8. Days 28 to 30: review against the baseline and plan month two
Compare the month with the numbers you wrote on day 1: list size, orders, conversion rate, and where orders came from. Note what each piece cost you in money and hours. Keep what worked, drop one thing that did not, and choose the one new thing month two will add, such as a post-purchase flow, a second ad angle or a blog post a week.
A worked example
For a new handmade ceramics store starting with 300 email contacts
Worked example (an invented store, with invented numbers)
The store starts the month with 300 friends-and-family contacts, 4 orders a week and a goal of 1,000 subscribers. It imports the 300 with the welcome series set to manual, so none of them get a welcome email meant for new sign-ups.
By day 30 the sign-up form has added 610 subscribers and the checkout opt-in 230 more, so the list is 1,140. The store sends 4 campaigns, and the welcome series and abandoned checkout flow run all month.
The ad test spends $20 a day for 21 days, $420 in total, and Meta credits it with 9 orders, about $47 an order. With a margin of $38 an order, the store pauses the ads and puts month two's effort into email and product pages instead.
Common mistakes
Starting with ads because they feel fastest. Without email capture and flows in place, most of the paid visitors leave and are never heard from again. Put the free, always-on pieces in first.
Importing an old contact list while the welcome series is live. Everyone on it gets a "thanks for joining" email they never asked for. Set the flow to manual during imports.
Judging search work after a week. Search changes take weeks to show. Set them up early in the month and check Search Console at the end, not every morning. source, checked 28 September 2026
Doing everything at once and measuring nothing. If you change the homepage, launch ads and start a sale in the same week, you cannot tell what worked. Keep the baseline and add pieces in order.
Doing this with Tilly
Tilly's free brand audit is a sensible day 1: it needs only your store URL, reads your storefront, reviews and marketing, and builds customer personas, which gives you the customer sentences step 1 asks for. The free start is 100 credits, once, with no card.
From there, the email agent can write the welcome series and abandoned checkout flow at 30 credits a flow, delivered to Klaviyo as draft flows with nothing switched on. On the free plan you can preview this work; publishing needs a paid plan, starting with the Store plan at $49 a month for 500 credits.
Questions people ask
What if my store has been open for months without marketing?
Use the same plan. Your day 1 baseline will simply have more in it, and you can skip anything already working. Stalled stores usually find the gap is email capture and flows, not traffic.
Do I need social media in the first 30 days?
Only if your customers already find brands there. Posting a few times a week on one platform is fine, but it should not take time from email capture and flows, which keep working when you stop posting.
How much should I spend on the ad test?
An amount you could lose entirely without it hurting the business, spread over at least a week. Before you start, work out what an order can cost you and still leave a profit; the guide to calculating break-even ROAS shows how.
See this on your own store
Paste your store URL. The first pass takes about a minute and needs no account. Save a card (nothing is charged) and Tilly reads the whole store and works out who buys from you.