Email marketing in Switzerland: how it works for online stores.

01Three types of email: newsletters, flows and order emails

Newsletter

sent once to a list

Flow

starts after an action

Order email

confirms the purchase

Email marketing for a store is made up of three types of email. They differ in what triggers them and which rules apply.

Newsletters account for most emails. In Klaviyo’s 2026 report covering more than 183,000 customers, campaigns make up 94.7% of emails sent. Flows, however, bring in nearly 41% of email revenue from just 5.3% of emails [1]. If you are starting out, build the flows first and plan the newsletter after that.

Order emails are not marketing in the narrow sense, but they are required. In Switzerland, a store must confirm an order electronically without delay (Art. 3(1)(s)(4) of the Swiss Unfair Competition Act, UWG) [4]. In Germany, section 312i of the Civil Code (BGB) requires you to confirm receipt of the order electronically without delay [10]. Shopify comes with its own templates for these, such as the order confirmation. You can change the subject line, text, logo and colours in the template editor [3].

02Email marketing in Switzerland: when marketing emails are allowed

Law

Art. 3(1)(o) Swiss UWG

Rule

consent before the first marketing email

Exception

customers after a purchase

In Switzerland, marketing by email is governed by the Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UWG). Anyone sending mass advertising needs the recipients’ consent in advance. They must state the correct sender and point to a simple, free way to unsubscribe [4].

The FDPIC, the Swiss federal data protection authority, explains when consent counts. It must be voluntary, the person must know what their address will be used for, and they can withdraw it at any time. As an example, it names an empty box that the person ticks themselves. Ticking a box for the terms and conditions does not count as consent [5].

Without consent, you may only email your own customers. The law allows this if you received the address during a sale and pointed out the option to unsubscribe at that time, and only for your own similar products [4]. According to the FDPIC, the exception only applies after a purchase. Simply opening a customer account is not enough [5].

Because you process addresses, the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) also applies [5]. If your email tool stores data abroad, you tell the people concerned which country and, where relevant, which safeguards apply, usually in your privacy policy (Art. 19(4) FADP) [9]. If you also email customers in the EU, the GDPR can apply as well. The FDPIC gives the example of a Swiss online store selling to people in several EU countries [16]. Anyone who intentionally breaks the UWG rules can, upon complaint, face a custodial sentence of up to three years or a monetary penalty (Art. 23 UWG) [4]. Recipients can file a complaint with SECO [5]. If in doubt, have your sign-up texts checked by a qualified professional.

03Germany: consent, double opt-in and existing customers

Law

section 7 UWG, plus the GDPR

Rule

prior express consent

Proof

double opt-in

In Germany, marketing by email without prior express consent counts as unreasonable harassment (section 7(2) no. 2 of the German UWG). The exception for customers only applies if all four conditions are met [6]:

1. You received the address in connection with the sale of goods or a service.
2. You only advertise your own similar goods or services.
3. The customer has not objected.
4. When collecting the address and in every email, you state clearly that the customer can object at any time, at no cost other than the basic transmission costs.

For consent given online, the German data protection authorities consider double opt-in necessary. New subscribers confirm their sign-up with a click in a second email. You must be able to prove consent, and a stored IP address alone is not enough [7].

For stores with customers in both countries, we recommend double opt-in everywhere. That way you have the same proof for every address, wherever the order comes from.

04Building the list: form, double opt-in and incentive

Where

pop-up, footer, checkout

How

double opt-in per list

Avoid

bought address lists

Your list grows through sign-up forms in the store: a pop-up, a field in the footer and a box at checkout. The box stays unticked until the customer ticks it herself. The FDPIC gives this as an example of valid consent [5].

In Klaviyo, you set double opt-in per list. Whoever signs up immediately receives a confirmation email. Only after the click is the address added to the list and to the welcome series [8]. Klaviyo names a second benefit: mistyped and invalid addresses do not pile up on the list. That matters because large mailbox providers such as Google and Yahoo track how recipients react to emails from your domain [8].

Be careful with old lists. An import does not trigger double opt-in in Klaviyo [8]. Before importing, check that every address comes with consent or with a purchase and an unsubscribe notice. With bought address lists, nobody has given you consent.

An incentive helps people sign up, such as a discount on the first order, free shipping or a short guide. What the first email should contain and when it goes out is covered in our guide to the welcome series for new subscribers.

If you sell across Switzerland, ask for the preferred language in the sign-up form. In 2024, 23% of the population named French as their main language and 8% Italian [17]. Newsletters and flows then go out in the language each person chose. How to set up the store itself in several languages is covered in our guide to a store in several languages and countries.

05The first automated flows for your store

First

welcome and cart

Next

post-purchase

Later

winback

Klaviyo recommends starting with four flows because they have a big impact. In this order: welcome series, abandoned cart, post-purchase and winback [2].

Which filters, delays and emails belong in each flow is shown in our overview of automated flows in Klaviyo. Abandoned purchases have their own guide with timing, content and the law: reminders for abandoned carts.

Flows follow the same rules as newsletters. The tricky case is a cart reminder to people who have never bought from you. The FDPIC only applies the customer exception after a purchase [5]. To be safe, plan these emails only for contacts who have given consent.

06Reaching the inbox: what Gmail and Yahoo require

All senders

SPF or DKIM

Over 5,000 emails a day

plus DMARC and one-click unsubscribe

Spam rate

below 0.3%

Gmail and Yahoo have fixed rules for senders. At Gmail, emails that do not meet them may be marked as spam or rejected [13]. The rules apply to stores in Switzerland just as they do in Germany.

• If you send to Gmail accounts, you need SPF or DKIM for your sending domain. The spam rate in Postmaster Tools should stay below 0.3% [13].
• If you send more than 5,000 emails a day to Gmail accounts, you need SPF, DKIM and DMARC. A DMARC policy of “none” is enough. The domain in the From header must match the SPF or DKIM domain [13].
• Marketing emails from these senders need one-click unsubscribe and a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the body [13].
• Yahoo requires the same from bulk senders and also asks them to honour unsubscribes within two days [14].

Gmail advises keeping the spam rate below 0.10% at all times and avoiding 0.30% or more [13]. SPF, DKIM and DMARC are entries in your domain’s DNS. If you use an email tool, check that it authenticates your emails with your domain via SPF and DKIM [13].

The second lever is the list itself. Gmail writes that frequent spam reports damage a domain’s reputation over time, and that people who want your emails are less likely to mark them as spam [13]. That is another reason double opt-in pays off.

07Which tool fits and what it costs

Starting out

Shopify Messaging

Many flows

Klaviyo

As of

14.11.2026, prices in US dollars

To start with, the email tool already built into Shopify is often enough. Shopify Messaging is available on all Shopify plans. Every month you can send up to 10,000 emails at no extra cost, whether manual or automated. After that, 1,000 emails cost 1 US dollar. From 300,000 emails a month, each additional email automatically costs less. Ready-made automations such as welcome and winback emails are included [11].

Klaviyo is worth it if you want to build many flows based on purchase behaviour. The free plan covers up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month. The Email plan starts at 20 US dollars a month for 500 active profiles and 5,000 emails [12].

Prices change, so check them with the provider before you decide. Which other tools are worth a look, where they store data and how to switch without losing data is covered in our comparison of email tools for stores. At nalu, setting up Klaviyo for Shopify stores is Szymon’s job.

08Sending newsletters and measuring results

Metrics

click rate, revenue per recipient

Be careful with

open rate

At nalu

Szymon

Alongside the flows, you need a newsletter at a pace you can keep up: new products, know-how about your products, a promotion now and then. Send it first to recipients who have recently clicked or bought. People who want your emails are less likely to report them as spam [13].

For 2026, Klaviyo names a good open rate as 31% for campaigns and 32.2% for flows, and a good click rate as 1.69% for campaigns and 5.58% for flows [1]. The open rate is fuzzy, though. On Apple devices with Mail Privacy Protection turned on, Klaviyo cannot tell whether a person opened the email or the mail app did [15]. Focus mainly on clicks and revenue per recipient.

From our work. We have also handled email for ZinCuTec, a metal furniture maker from Nürtingen, Germany, since August 2025. Before that, nothing was active in the Klaviyo account. Today, 14 email flows in Klaviyo and 38 emails run on their own, plus four pop-ups for new subscribers (ZinCuTec case study). Our email marketing for Shopify brands is run by Szymon. We don’t promise fixed numbers.

Honest limits. Klaviyo’s figures are averages across customers in all industries, and the report gives no numbers for Switzerland or Germany alone. We have not compared Swiss email tools with servers in Switzerland here. Whether a flow works for you only shows when you compare it with your own numbers over a few months. We summarised the legal situation from the law and official authority pages, and this is not legal advice. If in doubt, have consent texts, your privacy policy and old lists checked by a qualified professional.