By Mark McDonald
Introduction
Tech commentators love to confidently declare – seemingly with great certainty – that email marketing is on the verge of extinction. But a glance at your inbox is all it takes to prove that “you have (still) email.”
Email marketing for e-commerce is a way for store owners to reach their customers with relevant, personalized messages at the right time – without needing permission from gatekeepers constrained online. Additionally, email has seen healthy, consistent growth in the number of global users, with no signs of decline.
Whether you are a small store owner just starting in email marketing or dreaming of a big campaign in the future, our guide to the best e-commerce email campaigns reveals how to make the most out of each broadcast.
What is e-commerce email marketing?
E-commerce email marketing is the practice of sending marketing messages to potential and existing customers via email with the aim of selling, educating, or building customer loyalty.
Email is a “owned” digital marketing channel, meaning the sender has complete control over the content and distribution, and it typically performs best when used to send personalized, relevant messages to segmented recipient lists.
Email is particularly important for e-commerce, as it is used to send transactional, promotional, and lifecycle messages. It is a smart way to communicate with people on their mobile devices and maximize your marketing efforts.
Create standout emails that convert subscriptions into sales with our customizable email templates. Set up your first email campaign confidently and start boosting your sales today! Learn more
3 Types of e-commerce email marketing
Let’s explore three types of email marketing used by e-commerce merchants.
1. Transactional Emails
Transactional emails are sent during the checkout process and other purchasing activities. They are more functional in nature, sending key information to individual customers.
According to one study, open rates for transactional emails hover around 60% – much higher than the average of 37.65%. Why? Because transactional emails are not just expected, they are anticipated. Customers look for them.
Use order confirmation emails as an opportunity to retain the customer after their first purchase. Ensure that the email receipt answers the essential questions customers have: when they can expect to receive their order, what address it is shipping to, and where they can ask questions. You should start testing with the basics before trying out additions.
For repeat customers, try suggesting related products or include an option to add an accessory to purchase before shipping.
For example, Crate & Barrel sends order confirmation emails to their customers before shipping packages, encouraging them to add more products to their cart.
Ways to improve order confirmation emails:
- Offer related products by suggesting accessories, provide an option to purchase the same product as a gift for a friend, or add a subscription option.
- Offer a discount code or free shipping for future purchases within a limited time frame. This is known as a return offer, a way in which the revenue loss incurred by giving a discount is reasonable, as often it is better for the customer to return at a cheaper price than not returning at all.
- Encourage the customer to join your community. If you are selling a purely functional product, this may not work. But businesses seeking to align with customer values should use their receipts as another platform to draw customers into their community.
Confirmation messages
Shipping Confirmation:
Shipping confirmation messages are sent as soon as the package is shipped. They are valuable because the customer is already excited to receive their order. It’s also an underutilized opportunity for creativity and delighting customers.
Think innovatively about converting more customers. How can you use a shipping confirmation message to enhance business and deepen the customer relationship with your brand?
For example, Tradesy (now known as Vestiaire Collective) uses the shipping confirmation message to promote its referral program, encouraging customers to gift friends and family a $20 discount.
Ways to improve shipping confirmation messages:
- Make it easy for your customers to track their order. Include the expected delivery date and the tracking number associated with the shipping company so people can click to see exactly where their order is.
- Suggest the customer refer a friend by sending a link to the product they purchased. Utilize word-of-mouth marketing by implementing a referral program that offers rewards.
- Provide suggestions for products that match the customer’s purchases. For instance, if a customer bought a pair of men’s trousers, the product suggestions could focus on matching shirts and ties.
Verification Messages:
Many brands often overlook customer feedback at their own expense. Luckily, gathering opinions can be as simple as sending a survey or one question about the customer shopping experience.
In your post-purchase emails, direct customers to an external survey tool for feedback, or include the full survey within the email itself. Many businesses do this by using a rating system (for example, “Rate your experience”).
These requests should be sent after the customer assumes they have received and used the product they ordered. Here’s an example of a survey from Dairy Queen:
Ways to improve customer feedback messages:
- Focus on customer satisfaction, not sales, so you can get insights about their purchases. Track these metrics over time and look for actionable insights you can implement to improve your business.
- Place a customer review/survey form on your website so the customer can see related offers and products after providing their feedback.
- Follow up with dissatisfied customers. This is essential, first to encourage response and then to see how you can improve the experience for future customers.
- Include reviews on the product page as user-generated content to increase trust among future buyers.
Thank You Messages:
Thank you messages are a great way to inspire customer loyalty. They allow your company to stay visible in their inbox and give you another chance to increase the click-through rate with coupons and links to your online store.
HubSpot states that thank you messages are twice as engaging as general marketing messages. Thank you messages achieved a 42% open rate and a 14% click rate, while general marketing messages achieved a 12% open rate and a 6% click rate.
Create simple text emails or use automated email templates. Companies like Bee Free provide templates and services for all types of emails for your business. In the example below, Bee sends thank you emails to its subscribers.
Ways to improve your thank you messages include:
- Keep it simple. Make the message brief and nice and include a call to action so customers can continue to engage with your business.
- Use smart CTAs. The smart CTA automatically changes based on who is viewing it. This will make your thank you email more personalized and engaging, increasing the likelihood that the customer will follow up this gratitude with action.
- Make it shareable on social media. One of the best ways to get your marketing messages to the right people is by sharing them. Now your customers can do this by forwarding the email itself, but if they can share it on social media, they can reach a larger number of people faster.
2.
Promotional Emails
Promotional emails aim to raise awareness about a specific deal or promotion (as you might guess), and they are sent to the entire subscriber list or, more commonly, to a segment of your email list. Examples of promotional emails include product launches, monthly email newsletters, limited-time promotions, seasonal deals, or content updates.
You can think of these emails as messages you send when you have something new worth announcing, so be mindful of your main goal, the offer, and the segment of subscribers. New products (or services)
New products are often developed based on customer feedback, so there’s no better place to start when launching your new product than with your loyal subscribers. If your latest releases target a specific group of your customers, for example, you can segment your list based on past purchases and offer privileged access.
Limited-time deals:
Create a limited-time offer that relates to customer interests. Offer a discount on the same category of items they purchased last week. Remember, when the offer is compelling, it’s best not to let excessive smart text get in the way.
Subscriber-only special discounts:
Whether you send out a regular newsletter or create an automated campaign around special offers, you can always include discount codes to increase subscribers’ motivation to make a purchase. Offering a sense of exclusivity and membership is a great way to inject emotion into your marketing.
You can see how the retailer Pioneer uses subscriber-only discounts in the email below. The brand informs subscribers about future Black Friday discounts and tells them they will receive a special promotional code on the sale day.
Seasonal promotions:
Seasonal promotions are a traditional and effective form of email marketing to notify about special offers based on upcoming holidays or the time of year. You may want to inform subscribers about Black Friday sales, post-Christmas sales, or spring clearance sales. You can also remind people about upcoming holidays, like Father’s Day.
For example, Everlane promotes its Black Friday sale through email with banners. The lime green banner color stands out to recipients and announces a 40% discount for the sale. Potential shoppers can easily navigate to the site by clicking the “Shop Now” link.
Newsletter:
A regular email newsletter can help achieve the vital tasks of educating your customers and telling your brand’s story. It’s an underrated way to stay in touch and build closer relationships with customers (and potential customers) without relying on discounts or promotions.
Everyone loves compelling stories, so if you can find a notable story from a team member, customer, or even your business and personal life, consider using it as a newsletter topic.
Maybe a customer used your fitness products to lose 50 pounds, or you can share what inspired you to start your business in the first place. Whatever the story is about, it should be interesting and relevant to your brand.
In the example below, Rothy’s shares more information about the brand’s mission to make a positive impact on the world – specifically how the company supports sustainability. It’s a smart way to shape a stance and speak to customers who feel the same way.
Content updates:
If you are using content marketing to educate current customers and reach new ones, consider including this content in your regular newsletter, or automatically sending new content via email through RSS.
When you can invest, think about creating content that provides additional context for your new or updated products (for example, beauty care tips). Additional sales messages
3.
Email Lifecycle Messages
Lifecycle messages are powerful because they are personal and target only a small segment of your subscribers with relevant messages based on their behavior. They are also known as “automated” messages, as they are sent based on the action taken by the shopper and where the shopper is in the customer journey. Abandoned cart messages
The average cart abandonment rate is around 70%. That’s a lot of revenue left on the table. However, you can win back some of those potential customers.
Abandoned cart messages are the closest thing to a “quick win” in e-commerce. Retailers can typically recover between 5% and 11% of the sales they have lost.
Consider including an additional incentive to complete the purchase, although this may encourage shoppers to abandon their carts for a discount. At the very least, use copy focused on the benefits that drive them back to your store with their credit card in hand.
For example, Rudy’s barbershop sends an abandoned cart email with a special offer.
Source: https://shopify.com/blog/email-marketing
Leave a Reply