The Ultimate Guide to E-commerce Email Marketing
We were contemplating different marketing methods for our brand and landed on a conclusion. That is, how remarkably marketing strategies and tactics have evolved over the years.
We can say, without exaggeration, that we are highly fortunate to live in a digital age where technology has made marketing and advertising super convenient, efficient, and obviously more profitable than ever.
Speaking of marketing in a digital age, there’s one platform outshining all other mediums in terms of customer acquisition, retention, and engagement.
That medium is email marketing.
As statistics say, in 2020 alone, there were over 4 billion email subscribers globally, and this number will increase in the future.
If you too wish to attract customers to your brand and skyrocket your sales like crazy via emails, then this guide is all you need. Because here, we have explained email marketing for all e-commerce in simple and comprehensive terms.
But first, let’s quickly run through how email marketing benefits your business.
What Is Email Marketing, and How Beneficial Is It?Email marketing for e-commerce refers to the practice of sending emails to promote and advertise a business.
It is arguably the most advantageous and powerful marketing platform. The main reason for this is that emails feel more personal, direct and have the largest number of users.
According to statistics collected by Content Marketing Institute in 2017, 93% of B2B marketers prefer email marketing for content distribution. And, Statista says that 51% of consumers prefer to be communicated via emails.
Lastly, Litmus reveals that email marketing results in a $36 return on investment on every dollar spent. That’s enough to raise eyebrows and motivate you to begin email marketing.
So let’s take a look at how to run an email marketing campaign that can result in the success and popularity of your brand.
9 Simple Steps to Boost Sales Through Email MarketingIt doesn’t matter if you’re new to marketing or trying to improve your marketing tactics. The following steps will up your marketing efforts and escalate the success rate.
Step 1: Strategize your goals, plans, and objectivesFirstly, you must plan and note down an effective marketing strategy.
For this, you’ll need to run an extensive competitive or market analysis and understand the rates and demands of the product or service that you are offering.
Next, understand your target audience and then strategize campaigns.
Think thoroughly about how your brand can stand out from the existing competitors and how you benefit people in such a way that they would like to use your product over others.
However, you will have to constantly revise and analyze your constructed strategy to get the maximum benefit from current situations.
Step 2: Motivate people to sign upOnce you’re done planning your goals and targets, the next actionable step is to create sign-up forms to collect email addresses and generate an email list.
Your sign-up form can be linked through pop-up ads or call to action buttons incorporated in pages with high traffic.
Try to give promotional offers like free trials or discounts to encourage people to sign up. Use vibrant and contrasting colors for call-to-action buttons. Also, give special attention to the placement of the sign-up call to action button.
Keep in mind that both placement and colors can be a game-changer.
Step 3: Create an email list and segment itOnce you have collected email addresses through the sign-up process, the next thing is to segment your email list.
Email list segmentation is breaking or splitting an email list into smaller sections. These sections can be divided based on demographics, the behavior of the recipients, or their purchase history.
Segmentation is a pivotal step as it allows you to send only relevant emails to each of your recipients. Which further increases the chances of engagement.
For example; if you segment your emails according to gender, then you’ll be able to send Mother’s Day wishes and promotional offers to females only. etc
Step 4: Run targeted campaignsSegmenting your email list makes it easier for you to send targeted emails to your subscribers.
Targeted emails are sent to subscribers according to their behaviors or actions.
Your recipients will be on different levels of their customer journey. For example, some have just signed up, some have stopped engaging, while others might have completed years of purchases from you.
You can send your customers emails depending on where they are on their customer journey. These emails are commonly known as triggered emails or behavior-based emails.
Here are some categories of triggered emails.
Welcome emails
These are sent to subscribers who have just finished the sign-up process. According to Hive.co, welcome emails have an open rate of 91.43%.
You can make these emails comical, promotional, or give a bit of information about how to use your product.
Re-engagement
These emails are sent to recipients who have not interacted with your brand for a while.
The main reason behind sending this email is to encourage or coax them to engage with your brand again. You can grab your customer’s attention by giving them exciting offers or writing a persuasive copy.
Cross-selling
Cross-selling emails are commonly called continue purchase emails.
This email intends to send suggestions to your recipients based on their recent purchases. For instance, if a customer X just purchased a leather bag from your brand, you will recommend buying more bags or accessories.
Cross-selling emails work wonders because they are sent out to users when they are already in the mood for purchase.
Transactional
Transactional emails are sent out to customers who have just conducted a transaction.
They can further include abandoned carts, feedback, event notification, or most commonly, order confirmation emails.
These are sort of confirmation messages which are pretty necessary to clear the doubts of the recipient regarding a purchase or transaction.
Abandoned cart
Like we mentioned earlier, abandoned cart emails are a subcategory of transactional emails.
Statistics have revealed that abandoned cart emails are highly beneficial in convincing a reader to complete their purchase.
According to Active Campaign, abandoned cart emails have proved to recover at least 10% of lost revenue.
Feedback
The purpose of sending this email is to improve relationships with your customers.
You must include feedback emails in most or at least some of your campaigns. They can include questionnaires, review forms, or rating scales.
Feedback emails bring advantages to both parties as the customer can put forward their concerns and issues through a protocol. At the same time, you as a brand can get their feedback and make necessary changes in your product or service (if required, of course.)
Step 5: Write subject lines that grab attentionOnce you have decided what campaign you’re going to run, the next actionable step is to write a subject line that steals your customer’s attention.
Each recipient receives dozens of emails each day. So if you wish to steal their attention among so many competitors, you must write a top-notch subject line.
Invesp reveals that 47% of emails are opened based on their subject lines. We can say through experience and research that some of the best performing subject lines have less than 50 characters, a question, a personalized name or location, or a humorous element.
Step 6: Construct a persuasive copyYour email copy consists of the focal message that you wish to deliver to your audience.
Whether referring to a sale or convincing them to re-engage, make sure your email copy mentions this. It has the power to change your recipient’s mind, so carefully play with words. Make it as comprehensive as possible and avoid using technical jargon.
It’s a proven fact that a funny or humorous email copy will win the hearts of your audience.
Also, avoid writing unnecessary details as people read emails on the go. This will distract them from your actual message.
Step 7: Focus on email designWish to create a lasting impression on your readers? Then, focus on your email designs.
The first thing you’ll have to consider is the responsiveness of your email design. An email design that is responsive displays perfectly on every device that it is viewed on.
Next, you must focus on the colors. Your email colors can be used to represent your email campaign or brand.
Also, keep in mind each color will have a psychological impact on your viewers. For example, red shows urgency, orange represents optimism, etc., Use them wisely according to your campaign.
Most importantly, don’t forget to embed some interactive elements such as gifs, countdown timers, CSS animations, etc., in your email design.
Interactive elements are indeed a show-stealer, and Campaign Monitor says that 82% of email recipients like responding to interactive emails.
Step 8: Schedule campaigns smartlyOnce you have written and designed your email, it’s time to schedule them.
You must be witty about this as well. Most email marketers say that Tuesday is the best day to send emails, while 9 to 11 am are the best times to send them.
However, there’s no concrete rule as you can only find the best results through countless trials and errors.
A quick tip for newbies is that when the holiday season approaches, try to send more than one email for each event. This way, you increase the chances of cashing these holidays or events.
Step 9: Conduct A/B testingThey say success results from multiple failures, and we second this stance.
You will have to conduct numerous tests and trials to find the best elements for your campaigns.
You can try different timings, variable or no interactive elements, or writing different subject lines. You will find the best solution after testing them all separately.
Also, don’t forget to run these tests over and over.
Best Practices for Generating Maximum Revenue Through E-commerceThe steps mentioned above are the basics of running a successful email marketing campaign. But if you want to outshine your competitors, you must also incorporate these best practices.
- Must send promotional emails
We can not emphasize enough on how beneficial and desirable these are.
Marketing Sherpa says that 61% of customers like receiving promotional emails. This includes discount offers, loyalty programs, or updates about a new product or feature.
- Use tools to facilitate email marketing for e-commerce
Technology and AI have become the fairy godmothers for all email marketers by making the tasks more convenient and cost-effective.
You, too, must use tools to make your email campaigns time-efficient and more presentable.
For instance, using automation tools allows you to schedule and send automated emails, email design tools provide predesigned email templates that save you from the hassle of hiring a designer, etc.
They are great at bringing ease and facility for marketers.
- Endorse your brand through referrals
The best way to convince your readers is through referrals.
You must send out emails that consist of testimonials, case studies, or positive reviews about your brand. You can also feature an influencer or celebrity that uses your brand.
People love to purchase something used and advocated by someone they look up to.
- Experiment with strategies and techniques
Lastly, never stop or be afraid of experimenting.
After all, innovation is the foundation of marketing (email marketing in this case). Try to run different and unique campaigns for your users.
Final WordsYour email marketing campaign is the combination of your persistence, remarkable strategies, and extensive research.
Just focus on each of these wholeheartedly and then follow the 9 steps that are mentioned above.
Give special attention to each segment of your campaign. Only then will you be able to beat all your competitors.
Cheers and good luck!
