What Is Dynamic Email Content? How To Send Dynamic Emails

A dynamic person is full of positivity, energy, and ideas. A dynamic system is constantly changing and alive with activity. Dynamic email is designed to translate these ideas of positive, constant change into your email marketing.

Your customers are dynamic too. They have different interests, needs, and buying behaviors, all of which change along their journey with your brand. Dynamic email content enables you to address each recipient individually by changing the specifics of your email content (often automatically) to align with a customer’s needs. Instead of sending the same mass message to your entire list, you can deploy tools that use customer data, subscriber behavior, and purchase history to deliver personalized content.

Learn what dynamic email content is, how it works in a real email marketing strategy, and how brands like yours can use it to turn routine email marketing into a high-performing conversion channel.

What is dynamic email content?

Dynamic email content automatically changes specific text and visual content in an email based on the recipient’s data, behavior, or preferences. Unlike a static email, where everyone receives the same version, dynamic emails show different elements (e.g., products, images, offers, or calls to action) to different people. Think of it as a storefront that rearranges itself for every customer.

For example, a customer who just bought a product might receive care tips or a cross-sell message. Someone who viewed an item but didn’t buy it sees a reminder with that exact product featured and a coupon to further incentivize the purchase.

How dynamic email works in ecommerce

In practice, dynamic email relies on three inputs: 

• Subscriber data, like location and order history

• Website activity, such as browsing history or cart behavior 

• Automation rules that decide when and why a message is sent based on a combination of those factors 

That’s how brands send emails relevant to each recipient, rather than generic marketing emails.

Together, these signals turn one campaign into many personalized versions. Because the message reflects real customer activity, the email feels timely.

For most ecommerce businesses, the technical setup is straightforward. Customer data is usually collected and stored through your ecommerce platform (like Shopify) and gets synced to an email marketing tool such as Shopify Messaging, Klaviyo, or Mailchimp. 

Inside your email marketing tool, you create a single email template with dynamic, relevant content blocks—sections that automatically change based on customer data or behavior. Once you configure the automation rules (e.g., “send this email two hours after a cart is abandoned”), the system runs in the background, sending tailored messages each time.

7 types of dynamic email content

Dynamic email content can take many forms. Here are seven common types that ecommerce brands use:

1. Personalized subject lines. Use subscriber data like first name, location, or past purchase category in the email subject line to increase opens. A subject like “Alex, you’re ready for a refill” signals that the email content is relevant to the subscriber.

2. Dynamic product recommendations. Dynamic content blocks automatically pull in items based on purchase history, browsing history, or complementary products. Each recipient sees products based on their own activity.

3. Behavior-triggered emails. These emails are triggered when a customer takes (or doesn’t take) a specific action—like cart abandonment. In this case, it might contain the exact products a customer left in their cart, turning a generic reminder into a personalized message tied to the customer’s behavior.

4. Location-based content. Show different store information, shipping timelines, currencies, or event invitation details depending on the subscriber’s location. This is especially useful for local pop-ups, in-store promotions, or different fulfillment options.

5. Dynamic images. Swap visuals based on the recipient’s profile, such as product imagery complementary to their order history. This keeps images in emails aligned with the target audience without creating multiple separate campaigns.

6. Time- or inventory-sensitive content. This includes countdown timers, low-stock alerts, or changing offers that update at the moment the email is opened. 

7. Dynamic calls to action (CTAs). The same email campaign can show “Complete your purchase,” “Shop again,” or “Explore the collection,” matching the call to action to customer intent.

Examples of dynamic email content

Here are some real-world examples of dynamic email content to inspire your own personalization efforts:

Face Gym, cart abandonment

This email from the facial spa Face Gym is an example of a dynamic abandoned cart email. It pulls up the date and time the recipient had started to book before abandoning checkout, making it easy for the customer to jump right back in where they left off. 

This email also offers links to Face Gym’s FAQ page, an email address to which they can direct questions, and a step-by-step guide to completing an appointment booking right in the body of the email. All of this information helps remove any barriers to completing a purchase. Capping it off with the CTA “Book your workout today” lets the customer know exactly what to do next. 

Sur la Table, personalized savings event

This text-only promotional email from Sur la Table starts with the customer’s name, a small personal touch that shows not everyone is getting the same message. What follows is a short list of “handpicked weekend favorites” designed to speak directly to the customer. Tying it all together is a link to a recipe that puts the joy of cooking front and center and complements the promoted cookware. By tailoring the recommendations to the customer, this email is promotional and dynamic without being overtly salesy. 

Features necessary to implement dynamic email content

To get started with using dynamic email content, you’ll first need an email marketing platform that can store customer data, build customer segments, and trigger automated workflows based on behavior. 

Here are a few capabilities you’ll want to look for when you want to start deploying dynamic email content:

• Automation. Your email platform should trigger messages automatically when customers take specific actions, such as signing up for your newsletter, abandoning a cart, or completing a purchase.

• Data syncing. Dynamic email relies on customer data staying up to date between your ecommerce store and your email platform. Look for tools that sync information like order history, browsing behavior, location, and customer profiles in real time so your email campaigns always reflect the most recent activity and inventory data.

• Email personalization. At the message level, most platforms support email personalization through dynamic fields. With Shopify Messaging, you can insert a customer’s first name, city, or other custom fields into the email subject line or body to turn a mass message into personalized emails.

• Subscriber segmentation.Customer segments let you group by subscriber behavior, order value, product category, engagement level, or life cycle stage. Once those segments exist, you can send targeted content automatically, like:

• Replenishment reminders for repeat buyers

• Local event invites for nearby customers

• VIP early access for loyal customers

Ultimately, you need tools that will collect the right data points, turn them into functional segments, and automatically send out emails relevant to an individual recipient’s inbox. That’s what transforms static campaigns into a scalable, dynamic message system that boosts engagement and conversions. 

“We use Klaviyo,” Vicky Pasche, the co-founder of the inclusive, gender-neutral fashion brand Dapper Boi, says on Shopify Masters. “And it integrates with Shopify. So, it’s really awesome, because we’re able to segment all of our customers based on different events going on—if they’ve shopped with us recently, what they’ve shopped for.” 

And it’s working. Vicky says dynamic email campaigns bring in 54% of Dapper Boi sales.