POS Email Strategy To Boost Customer Loyalty (2026)

A POS email is any email tied to an in-store point-of-sale transaction. This could be a digital receipt, a post-purchase follow-up, a product recommendation, an email cart checkout link, or a loyalty update sent after someone buys something in your store.

Delivering customer emails through your point-of-sale system can be a solid growth strategy. Shopify research shows that brands that focus on expanding their known customer base through Shopify POS see impressive results, like 76% of in-store sales growth and three times higher average order value (AOV) than unknown or new customers. 

This guide covers what a POS email is, how to collect customer emails at checkout, and how to measure what’s working.

What are POS emails?

A POS email is an email connected to a point-of-sale terminal transaction. For retailers, that includes email receipts, post-purchase follow-ups, care instructions, product recommendations, back-in-stock alerts, email cart checkout links, and loyalty updates sent after an in-store purchase.

POS emails are one way to keep the conversation going after checkout. A printed receipt that’s likely to end up in the trash doesn’t keep your business at the top of their mind.

But by sending a POS email, you’re able to reach that customer again, whether you’re sending a digital receipt to their inbox within minutes, a thank you note with a discount for a future purchase in a couple days, or exclusive notice about a limited drop next week.

Common POS email types include:

• Digital receipts. A transaction record sent by email instead of, or in addition to, a printed copy.
• Post-purchase follow-ups. Care instructions, usage tips, discount codes for their next purchase, or a review request.
• Product recommendations. Suggestions based on the item a customer just bought or their past order history.
• Back-in-stock alerts. A notice when a sold-out item a customer was interested in is available again.
• Email cart links. A cart summary and checkout link so a shopper can finish a purchase online later.
• Loyalty and local updates. Points balances, reward reminders, or invitations to a store event or product launch.

With Shopify POS, unified customer profiles can house contact information, preferences, and order history across online and in-store purchases. They give store staff a practical way to send more relevant follow-ups after checkout instead of treating every shopper the same way. It’s one method to build customer connections and inspire repeat business and loyalty.

Why send emails after an in-store purchase?

On top of known customers accounting for more than three-quarters of in-store sales growth and having a three times higher AOV than unknown customers, brands also see a 61% increase in return purchases from known customers.

Gathering customer data at checkout and gaining the ability to send follow-up and personalized communication provides a number of benefits for retailers.

Keep local customers informed

Your retail store might be local, but communication doesn’t have to stop just because they’ve walked out the door. A POS email lets you keep in-store customers informed about what’s happening at your store next, whether it’s a weekend event, a discount code exclusively for past customers, or a new product line coming soon.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and IBM reported in 2026 that 72% of consumers still shop in stores. Connect those in-store visits to follow-up communication to keep them interested and coming back, rather than treating each visit as a random event.

Someone who made a purchase last month is the perfect audience member for an email about an upcoming offer or in-store event. Keeping customers informed helps you to create a community around your brand and your retail location.

Personalize messages with purchase history

POS emails give you an edge on personalization in retail because you’re able to create them based on data that tells you exactly what and when a customer bought. This means you can provide personalized product recommendations that are relevant to each individual customer.

A 2025 FedEx and C Space survey of US ecommerce merchants found 50% planned to use past purchases to recommend items during the holiday season, including 80% of large merchants and 34% of small merchants. 

In store, gather a customer’s information at checkout so you can use their purchase or order history to recommend complementary products, send care instructions specific to their past purchases, or suggest a reorder for something they may have run out of.

Encourage shoppers to purchase again

Alongside your ideas to bring in new customers, you should also work on turning visits into repeat customers. And POS emails can be one of the more direct ways to bring past customers back into your store.

Deloitte’s 2025 Consumer Loyalty Program Survey found 72% of US loyalty program members say loyalty programs make them more likely to spend with their preferred brand, and 56% increase their spending because of the program.

Use your POS emails to promote your store’s loyalty program perks to encourage shoppers to come back and make another purchase. 

Good emails for loyalty or rewards programs to send include:

• A welcome message when customers enroll that shares more information about the program
• Points-balance updates after each purchase
• Congratulations on point or program milestones
• Reminders when rewards are close to expiring

Read: How To Start a Loyalty Program for Small Businesses

Increase revenue from automated workflows

Klaviyo’s 2026 email marketing benchmarks say automated email flows generate average revenue per recipient nearly 18 times higher than campaigns, even though flows account for a small share of total sends.

Creating workflows that send out POS emails automatically after a purchase, like a receipt with a personalized product recommendation list attached, can increase revenue more than a one-off campaign could.

How to collect customer emails at POS checkout

Before you can even start sending out POS emails, you need to collect each customer’s contact information when they check out. If email capture is a new process for your retail store, you need to know where to start.

Note that email capture at POS checkout works best when the shopper understands the exchange, or what they’re agreeing to. Not every customer is going to opt in to email marketing with their email, but many will choose to receive receipts or product information over email. 

Use these steps to start collecting customer emails to build a POS email strategy.

Ask for consent at checkout

There are regulations around marketing email that require businesses to get explicit consent from their marketing contacts. For example, the EU’s GDPR has compliance regulations in place about how businesses can collect and use customer data. 

And in the US, the Federal Trade Commission’s CAN-SPAM guidance says commercial emails must tell recipients how to opt out, and businesses must honor opt-out requests within 10 business days.

So the first step is asking for consent at the point of purchase. A customer might choose to receive their receipt via email, but they also need to opt in for marketing communication.

Read: Permission Marketing 101: 4 Strategies for Success

Shopify POS email capture can match a shopper’s payment details with a Shop Pay account, surface the shopper’s email and phone number at checkout, and let the shopper choose digital receipts or opt in to marketing communications on the spot. 

Due to the ease in which Shopify POS can collect emails, Shopify-reported POS data says brands using Shopify POS achieve an 80% email capture rate in store.

Automating that step also frees up staff during busy periods. Martin Hogan, director of stores at Little Words Project, says, “If our staff is busy, having Shopify automatically handle email capture gives them the chance to finish tying a bracelet that somebody just made. It gives them more freedom and helps mitigate errors that can create friction in the interaction with a customer.”

Sam Sisca, VP of retail, also shares the results Little Words Project has seen through the implementation of Shopify’s POS email capture. Sam says, “We’ve seen most of [our store teams’] email conversion rates increase by at least 20% and, in some cases, up to 95%. Shopify had a lot to do with this because the customer is able to quickly put in their information.”

Use receipt selection and customer profiles

Shopify’s customer receipt selection lets shoppers choose how they get their receipt. Options include:

• Email
• SMS
• Print
• No receipt
• The Shop app

If a shopper picks a digital option, Shopify creates a customer profile from that transaction, giving staff a single place to connect checkout activity with future service and follow-up emails.

Customer profiles in Shopify POS can include an email address, phone number, notes, tags, and marketing preferences, so a returning shopper’s history is available to whichever staff member helps them next. 

Jo Hooper, founder of NRBY Clothing, says, “We don’t print receipts anymore.” Since making this shift, NRBY has reached a 70% email capture rate, generating thousands of new email signups just from in-store checkout.

Choose incentives customers value

A customer is more likely to hand over their email address when they get something of value out of it as well. 

Shopify’s 2025 Global Holiday Retail Report found:

• 49% of surveyed shoppers cited discounts as a reason to remain loyal to retailers where they spent money during the holiday season
• 41% cited free shipping and returns
• 29% cited loyalty programs

This shows you which incentives are worth testing. Try a discount on the customer’s next purchase, free shipping on a first online order, or entry into a loyalty program to boost your email capture rate.

Protect customer data and opt-out choices

Once you have customer data, you must always protect it and use it appropriately. FTC CAN-SPAM guidance says commercial emails must clearly explain how a recipient can opt out and then honor those requests within 10 business days. 

Pair your checkout email capture with clear opt-out language, and make getting consent an explicit checkbox. You can’t treat a customer choosing an emailed receipt as blanket consent for every future message.

The FTC’s separate data security guidance advises businesses to collect only the sensitive customer information they need, keep it safe, and dispose of it securely. 

PwC’s 2025 Customer Experience Survey found 53% of US consumers think sharing personal information is worth it if it makes a brand interaction smoother, while 93% say mishandled data would cost a brand their trust. Handle your customer’s data appropriately to keep that brand trust.

Read: Consent Management Platform: What It Is and 6 Tools

How to send POS emails with Shopify POS

With Shopify POS, you can send custom email or SMS receipts. Retail locations on the Shopify POS Pro subscription can also create email carts to send shoppers a cart summary and checkout link. 

Read on below to learn more about how to send different POS emails using Shopify’s POS capabilities.

Send email and SMS receipts

Shopify’s receipt settings let you manage receipt options for POS transactions, including email, SMS, print, and no-receipt choices where available. Set these up once in the Shopify admin, and the choice appears to every shopper at checkout going forward. 

Build email carts

For locations on Shopify POS Pro, email carts let store staff build a cart for an in-store shopper and send an email with a cart summary and checkout link, so the shopper can complete the purchase online. It’s useful when a shopper wants to think it over, prefers to pay online, or needs to keep moving during a busy shift. 

Lifestyle brand Jenni Kayne presents a perfect use case for this feature. Director of home experience Sam Mella says, “We can print or email PDF quotes for interior designers right from the POS that are really easy for them to pass along to their clients.”

Create customer segments

Shopify customer segments group customers by similar features like location, order history, or tags. Once a checkout email capture builds up your customer list, segments help you send emails like local event invitations, replenishment reminders, or campaigns to exactly the right audience.

To create segments, head to your Shopify admin, click Customers, then click Segments. You can use a pre-made template to create a new segment, use an existing segment as a starting point, or use the query editor.

Connect POS data to automations and campaigns

Shopify Messaging can help you build email and SMS campaigns and marketing automations from the Shopify admin, while customer segments help target follow-ups by location, order history, and tags. A POS customer profile and its purchase history can help retailers send welcome, post-purchase, loyalty, and product-interest emails.

Shopify’s Campaign Autopilot gives brands the ability to create automated communications like reorder suggestions, loyalty account updates, or product recommendation campaigns.

What POS emails should retailers send?

Once you have customer consent and their purchase history, there are a few POS emails that your retail brand should send after an in-person purchase. 

Examples of post-purchase communications include: 

• Satisfaction and customer care follow-ups
• Segmented campaigns
• Back-in-stock alerts
• New product announcements
• Loyalty or local event updates

Satisfaction and customer care emails

Use post-purchase POS emails to send receipts, care instructions, usage tips, review requests, or a product recommendation related to what the customer bought. Send this close to the purchase, while the product is still top of mind, to keep the email relevant, rather than a generic marketing message.

Segmented emails

Retail email marketing is not a one-size-fits-all strategy, meaning the same email won’t fit every customer. Those exclusively buying men’s clothes from your store don’t need an email with the hottest summer dresses. And to get a little more niche marketing, someone who exclusively buys floral scents likely won’t be interested in your latest sugar cookie candle drop.

MoEngage-reported 2025 North America benchmarks found retail and ecommerce behavior-based email campaigns had a 16 times higher conversion rate than broadcast emails, which is why segmentation can be useful.

Sam from Little Words Project says, “By getting customers’ emails into the Little Words Project ecosystems, customers are not then just shopping at our store. They’re also shopping online and having an omnichannel experience.” 

And Adam Wolfe, founder and CEO of Boost Auto, says, “Our deep understanding of car data means we can suggest the perfect fit for each customer, driving both satisfaction and repeat business.” 

Ebike Generation founder John Murphy discovered a dropshipping niche and began marketing e-bikes to hunters. “It was very scary in the beginning cutting out over 90% of my potential customers,” says John. 

“[But] it was absolutely game changing for me because everything became easier, marketing, email, the messaging on the website, everything became about how an e-bike is going to elevate your hunt. And then hunters were really drawn to it. I found that it was a lot easier to talk on a deeper level to one demographic than trying to be everything to everybody.” They show that an email built from what you know about a specific customer converts better than one built for everyone.

Back-in-stock emails

A back-in-stock email tells a customer when an item they were interested in is available again. Connect this to a POS customer profile, and anytime a shopper asks about a sold-out item in store, you can automatically notify them the moment it’s restocked. Customers will appreciate that you remembered their interest.

New product emails

When new products or a new collection lands, a POS email lets you reach the customers most likely to care first. For example, send a new product announcement email to a customer segment built from similar past purchases.

Of course, you can still send new product emails to your whole list. But when you break it down into segments, you can cater the messaging differently. 

If customers previously bought related products, you might position this new email as, “Look what else we have in stock.” If you’re targeting customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while, you can share the new product or collection launch as a way to get them back in the door.

Loyalty and local event emails

Shopify research shows 29% of shoppers say loyalty programs are one reason they make repeat purchases from retailers. 

In addition, a Bloomreach and eMarketer survey found 58.4% of marketing and retail professionals selected emotional connections, like beliefs and values, as the most effective marketing messages for building customer loyalty, while 41.6% selected transactional incentives like discounts or gamification. 

Balance discount-heavy sends with emails about local events and helpful post-purchase content, rather than leading with a discount every time.

How to measure POS email performance

Track your initiatives so you know if your POS email strategy is working. You may need to test and iterate on different tactics with your emails to get the best results with your specific audience.

Here are a few tips for measuring your POS email performance with email marketing metrics.

Track email capture and opt-in rate

Track the share of in-store transactions attached to a known customer, the share of shoppers who choose email receipts, and the share who opt in to marketing. Together, these show whether your checkout flow is building up your customer list or leaving most transactions anonymous.

Some additional KPIs to track alongside this include:

• Open rates: Are your subject lines compelling enough?
• Click-through rates: Is your content engaging and relevant?
• Conversion rates: Are your emails driving additional purchases?
• Revenue per email: How much value is each email generating?
• List growth rate: Are you adding new subscribers consistently?
• Unsubscribe rate: Are you maintaining a healthy list?

Track repeat purchases and revenue per recipient

Klaviyo-reported 2026 benchmarks say email flows generate nearly 41% of total email revenue from just 5.3% of sends, with average revenue per recipient nearly 18 times higher than campaigns. Track your revenue per recipient to compare your automated, POS email workflows against one-off campaigns.

In addition, Shopify-reported POS data says brands using Shopify POS see up to 61% more repeat purchases from known customers. Repeat purchase rate among email-captured customers is a direct way to check whether your POS email program is doing its job.

Track email cart completion

For email cart workflows specifically, track KPIs like:

• Carts sent
• Checkout-link clicks
• Completed online orders
• Revenue attributed to the store or associate
• Time between the in-store visit and the online purchase

This will tell you whether having in-store associates build email carts for shoppers is worth it.