Your First 90 Days: A Marketing Plan for New Shopify Stores

The first 90 days after launching a Shopify store determine whether the business gains momentum or stalls. Most new stores fail not because the product is wrong but because the marketing is unfocused: too many channels attempted simultaneously, no clear priorities, and no system for measuring what is working.

This guide provides a structured, month-by-month marketing plan for new Shopify stores. It tells you what to focus on first, what to add second, and what to optimise third, so that by the end of 90 days you have a working marketing engine rather than a collection of half-finished experiments.

If you have not yet set up your Shopify store, start with our step-by-step store setup guide first. This marketing plan assumes your store is live, your products are listed, and your checkout is working.

Agency insight: the new Shopify stores we work with that gain traction fastest are not the ones with the biggest budgets. They are the ones that focus on two or three channels in the right sequence rather than spreading effort across ten channels simultaneously. This 90-day plan reflects that principle: do fewer things well rather than many things poorly.

Key Takeaways

• Month 1 is about foundations: email capture, SEO basics, social media presence, and analytics setup
• Month 2 is about activation: launching your first paid campaigns, sending your first email flows, and creating your first content
• Month 3 is about optimisation: measuring what is working, cutting what is not, and doubling down on your best-performing channels
• Do not try to do everything at once. Sequence your marketing activities in the right order for maximum impact with minimum waste.
• The single most important first-month action is setting up email capture, because every visitor you lose without capturing their email is a visitor you have to pay to reach again

Table of Contents

• Before You Start: Define Your Targets
• Month 1 (Days 1 to 30): Build the Foundation
• Month 2 (Days 31 to 60): Activate Your Channels
• Month 3 (Days 61 to 90): Measure, Optimise, Scale
• 90-Day Timeline at a Glance
• Budget Guidance for New Stores
• Common First-90-Day Mistakes
• Why Matters Perspective
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final Thoughts

Before You Start: Define Your Targets

Before executing any marketing activity, set clear targets for your first 90 days. These should be specific and measurable, not aspirational and vague.

Realistic 90-day targets for a new Shopify store:

• Email subscribers: 500 to 1,000 (depending on traffic volume and incentive strength)
• First 50 to 100 orders
• Conversion rate above 1.5% (the Shopify average for new stores)
• At least two marketing channels generating measurable traffic
• A functioning email welcome flow and abandoned cart flow
• Google Search Console set up and receiving data

These targets are not arbitrary. They represent the minimum viable marketing foundation from which you can make informed decisions about where to invest next. Without at least 50 orders and 500 email subscribers, you do not have enough data to optimise effectively.

Month 1 (Days 1 to 30): Build the Foundation

Month 1 is not about driving volume. It is about putting the systems in place that will make months 2 and 3 effective. Every pound spent on traffic before these foundations are in place is partially wasted.

Week 1: Analytics and Tracking

Set up Google Analytics 4 with enhanced ecommerce tracking so you can attribute revenue to traffic sources from day one. Without this, you will not know which channels are working.

Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and verify your domain. This starts the clock on Google indexing your pages and gives you data on search queries, impressions, and crawl issues. For a full SEO setup guide, see our Shopify SEO guide.

Install the Meta Pixel (Facebook/Instagram) and Google Ads conversion tag even if you are not running ads yet. These pixels begin collecting visitor data immediately, which gives you a larger retargeting audience when you start paid campaigns in month 2.

Week 2: Email Capture and Flows

This is the single most important foundation to build in month 1.

Install [Klaviyo](https://www.klaviyo.com rel="sponsored") and connect it to your Shopify store. Set up a welcome popup offering an incentive (a discount, free shipping, or a valuable resource) in exchange for an email address.

Build three essential email flows:

• Welcome flow: triggered when someone signs up. Delivers the incentive, introduces your brand, and directs them to your best-selling products. Three to four emails over seven days.
• Abandoned cart flow: triggered when someone adds to cart but does not complete checkout. Three emails over 72 hours.
• Post-purchase flow: triggered after a purchase. Thanks the customer, suggests complementary products, and asks for a review. Two to three emails over 14 days.

These flows run automatically and generate revenue from day one without manual effort. For a full guide, see our Shopify email marketing guide.

Week 3: Social Media Presence

Choose one or two platforms where your target audience is most active. Do not try to be on every platform. For most Shopify stores, the strongest starting platforms are:

• Instagram: if your products are visually driven (fashion, beauty, food, home, lifestyle)
• TikTok: if your audience skews younger and your product lends itself to short-form video
• Pinterest: if your products are in home, wedding, food, or fashion categories (Pinterest functions as a visual search engine with high purchase intent)

Post three to five times per week with a mix of product content, behind-the-scenes content, customer testimonials (once you have them), and content that demonstrates your brand values. Consistency matters more than volume.

Week 4: SEO Foundations and Content Planning

Write custom meta titles and descriptions for your homepage, all collection pages, and your top 10 product pages. Do not rely on Shopify's auto-generated defaults.

Ensure all product images have descriptive alt text and are compressed for fast loading.

Plan your first four blog posts targeting informational keywords your ideal customer would search. These will be written and published in month 2. For guidance on blog content strategy, see our article on how to write Shopify blogs that rank.

Month 2 (Days 31 to 60): Activate Your Channels

With your foundations in place, month 2 is about turning on your first traffic-generating activities and beginning to build your audience.

Paid Advertising: Start Small and Learn

Launch your first Google Shopping campaign targeting your best-selling or highest-margin products. Google Shopping captures high-intent search traffic (people actively looking for products like yours). Start with a modest daily budget (£10 to £20 per day) and monitor Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) weekly.

Launch a retargeting campaign on Meta (Facebook/Instagram) targeting visitors who viewed products but did not purchase. The Meta Pixel you installed in month 1 has been collecting this audience data. Retargeting is typically the highest-ROI paid social campaign because the audience already knows your brand.

Do not launch broad prospecting campaigns on Meta yet. Your budget is better spent on retargeting visitors who have already shown interest.

Content Marketing: Publish Your First Posts

Publish two to four blog posts targeting the keywords you planned in month 1. Each post should include internal links to relevant product and collection pages, driving SEO value and guiding readers toward purchase.

Repurpose blog content for social media. Turn key points from each blog post into social media posts, carousels, or short videos. This maximises the value of every piece of content you create.

Email Marketing: Start Sending Campaigns

Send your first email campaign to your subscriber list. This could be a product spotlight, a new arrival announcement, or a piece of educational content related to your products. Aim for one campaign per week alongside your automated flows.

Monitor your abandoned cart flow performance. By now you should have data on open rates, click rates, and recovered revenue. If the flow is underperforming, test different subject lines and timing.

PR and Outreach: Plant Seeds

Build your press page with high-resolution product images, your brand story, and media contact information.

Identify ten relevant journalists or bloggers in your product category and send personalised pitches. Do not expect immediate results. PR is seed-planting in month 2 that may bear fruit in month 3 and beyond. For a full PR guide, see our article on how to do effective PR for ecommerce brands.

Month 3 (Days 61 to 90): Measure, Optimise, Scale

Month 3 is where data replaces assumptions. You now have two months of analytics data, email performance data, ad campaign data, and (hopefully) your first customer reviews. Use this data to make informed decisions about where to invest going forward.

Review Your Channel Performance

Check Google Analytics 4 to see which traffic sources are generating the most revenue, not just the most visits. A channel that sends 1,000 visitors with zero conversions is worth less than a channel that sends 100 visitors with five purchases.

Evaluate your paid campaigns. Which products, audiences, and creatives are delivering positive ROAS? Pause campaigns that are not working. Increase budget on campaigns that are. If Google Shopping is outperforming Meta retargeting (or vice versa), shift budget accordingly.

Review your email flow performance. Check the revenue attributed to each automated flow in Klaviyo. Optimise subject lines, timing, and content for any flow underperforming benchmarks.

Optimise Your Store Based on Data

Check your conversion rate by device. If mobile conversion is significantly lower than desktop, prioritise mobile UX improvements. For guidance, see our article on why your Shopify store design matters.

Review your product page performance. Which product pages have the highest traffic but lowest conversion rate? These are your biggest opportunities. Check image quality, description clarity, review visibility, and call-to-action prominence.

Check your Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console. Fix any pages flagged as failing. For guidance on what these metrics mean, see our article on why Shopify's page speed test is misleading.

Scale What Works

Double down on your best channel. If email is your highest-ROI channel, invest in growing your list faster (better popup, more lead magnets, social media list-building). If Google Shopping is delivering strong ROAS, expand to more products and increase budget. If a blog post is ranking and driving traffic, write more content on related topics.

Launch a review collection programme. Install Judge.me or a similar reviews app and send post-purchase emails requesting reviews. Social proof on product pages measurably increases conversion rate and generates fresh content for SEO.

Consider launching a referral programme. If you have happy customers (even a small number), give them a reason to refer friends. Apps like ReferralCandy automate the process. For more on retention strategies, see our guide on how to get Shopify repeat customers.

90-Day Timeline at a Glance

Budget Guidance for New Stores

You do not need a large budget to execute this plan. The foundations (email setup, SEO, social media, analytics) cost nothing beyond your time and the tools you are already paying for.

Common First-90-Day Mistakes

Spending on ads before setting up email capture. Every visitor who arrives through paid advertising and leaves without being captured as an email subscriber is a visitor you have to pay to reach again. Set up email capture before spending a single pound on ads.

Trying to be on every social platform. Being mediocre on five platforms is worse than being excellent on one. Choose the platform where your audience is most active and focus your energy there.

Not installing tracking pixels immediately. The Meta Pixel and Google Ads tag should be installed on day one, even if you are not running ads yet. They collect audience data from every visitor, which gives you a significantly larger retargeting pool when you launch paid campaigns in month 2.

Ignoring SEO because it takes time. SEO delivers compounding returns over months and years. The meta titles, alt text, and blog posts you create in month 1 will generate organic traffic in months 4, 5, and 6. The stores that start SEO early are the ones that eventually reduce their dependence on paid advertising.

Not measuring anything. If you are not tracking which channels drive revenue, you are making decisions based on feelings rather than data. Set up GA4 before you do anything else.

Comparing your day-30 results to established brands. Your first 90 days are about building systems and learning what works, not about generating the same revenue as a store that has been operating for five years. Judge your performance against your own targets, not against someone else's highlight reel.

Why Matters Perspective

After helping hundreds of Shopify stores through their first 90 days, the pattern is consistent: the stores that gain traction are those that build their foundations first (email, tracking, SEO basics), activate a small number of channels well (not many channels poorly), and make data-driven decisions about where to invest next.

The stores that struggle are almost always those that skipped the foundations and went straight to paid advertising, spending money driving traffic to a store with no email capture, no reviews, no content, and no way to bring visitors back after they leave.

Marketing a new Shopify store is not about doing everything. It is about doing the right things in the right order. This 90-day plan gives you that order.

If you are launching a new Shopify store and want expert guidance on your marketing strategy, email us. We help merchants build marketing systems that generate sustainable growth rather than short-term spikes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should I spend on marketing in my first 90 days? A realistic budget for a new Shopify store's first 90 days is £500 to £1,500 on paid advertising, with the majority of marketing activity (email, SEO, social media, content) requiring time rather than money. Start small, measure results, and only scale spending on channels that are delivering positive returns.

What is the most important marketing activity for a new Shopify store? Setting up email capture with automated flows (welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase) through Klaviyo is the single highest-impact first action. Every other marketing activity you do drives visitors to your store. Email capture ensures you can reach those visitors again without paying for another click. For a full guide, see our email marketing guide.

When should I start running paid ads? Not before your email capture, analytics tracking, and basic SEO are in place (typically end of month 1). Running ads before these foundations exist means paying for traffic you cannot measure, cannot retarget, and cannot bring back through email. Once the foundations are set, start with Google Shopping and Meta retargeting in month 2.

How long before SEO starts driving traffic? SEO typically takes three to six months to show meaningful organic traffic results from a new domain. The work you do in month 1 (meta titles, alt text, sitemap submission) and month 2 (blog content) begins building the foundation that generates traffic in months 4 to 6 and beyond. For a full guide, see our Shopify SEO guide.

Should I hire a Shopify agency for my first 90 days? It depends on your technical comfort level and budget. Many merchants execute this 90-day plan successfully on their own. An agency adds value through faster implementation, fewer mistakes, and strategic guidance based on experience with similar launches. If you want expert support, email us and we can discuss which elements would benefit most from agency involvement.

What should I focus on after the first 90 days? After 90 days, you should have enough data to identify your strongest traffic channels and conversion opportunities. Common next steps include scaling your best-performing paid campaigns, expanding your blog content strategy, launching a loyalty or referral programme, and optimising your product pages based on conversion data. For guidance on retention, see our repeat customers guide.

Final Thoughts

The first 90 days of a new Shopify store are about building systems, not chasing results. The foundations you lay in month 1, the channels you activate in month 2, and the data-driven decisions you make in month 3 determine whether your store builds momentum or drifts.

You do not need a massive budget. You do not need to be on every platform. You need email capture from day one, analytics tracking from day one, a focused approach to one or two traffic channels, and the discipline to measure what is working and cut what is not.

Start small. Test everything. Learn fast. Scale what works.

If you are launching a new Shopify store and want a marketing plan tailored to your specific products and audience, email us. We would be happy to help.

Related Articles

• How to Set Up a Shopify Store: A Step-by-Step Agency Guide
• How to Get More Traffic to Your Shopify Store
• How to Optimise Your Shopify Email Marketing
• Biggest Challenges E-Commerce Startups Face (And How to Overcome Them)
• How to Optimise Your Shopify Store for SEO