eCommerce Email Marketing Tips to Boost Your Sales

Originally published: September 12, 2023 08:36:03 AM, updated: July 02, 2024 08:51:01 AM

The competition is fiercer out there, and every industry vertical, especially eCommerce, is constantly outdoing itself. There was a time when launching an eCommerce store felt like pushing a car 10 blocks to a gas station. Now, it feels like a piece of cake. Everyone wants to claim a slice of the trillion-dollar industry today, and you do, too, right?

Developing an eCommerce store is no big deal, as many open-source eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify and WordPress, are available. These platforms can help you get started with your eCommerce store quickly. You can also hire reliable eCommerce development companies with the experience to help you build your store. So, the question is: Why don't all eCommerce stores succeed?

Now, can you tell me the sure-shot way to run a successful online or eCommerce business? Is it creating a flashy, intimidating store? No. Is it by advertising through different social media channels? No. It is done by creating a kickass email marketing strategy. And this is something that we will be discussing in the following post.

Fortunately, we are surrounded by many eCommerce marketing channels, such as different social media platforms, PPC, SEO, etc. Only successful eCommerce store owners can vouch for the fact that these are all great, but eCommerce email marketing will play a pivotal role here.

Introducing eCommerce Email Marketing

So, what exactly is eCommerce email marketing? As the name implies, it is a marketing channel that allows eCommerce store owners to send relevant messages to their valued customers. The practice is done to ensure that you keep in touch with your valued customers and stop them from abandoning their carts. How? By sending emails at regular intervals featuring new or upcoming products, discounts, promotional offers, or exclusive membership or subscription deals.

So, what's all the fuss about it, you may ask? Well, email marketing may seem like an old, outdated strategy, but trust me when I say that, if done right, it can act as the most valuable asset in your arsenal, and you can hit the bull's eye, especially in regards to sales and marketing.

Some Hard-hitting Facts to Consider

Now again, you must be wondering why, the hell, in the era of social media and SEO, I am stuck with email marketing. According to Statista, around 4 billion people tend to use emails. Can you afford to ignore such an opportunity?

Apart from this,

• 99% of customers check their email boxes daily.
• 2019 reported around 5.6 billion email accounts; the numbers have kept increasing since then.
• By the end of this year, email marketing revenue will reach $11 billion.
• Retailers worldwide believe that email marketing is the best strategy to date.
• 306 billion emails are sent and received each day.
• Around 50% of purchase decisions are based on these marketing emails.

Overall, email is a well-known digital marketing channel that gives the sender full control and offers a wide range of benefits, such as creating seamless brand awareness, engaging with customers, reducing cart abandonment, increasing conversion rates, sales, and return on investment.

A quick reality check for you: Did you know that customers sometimes don't return to your website even if it has a lot of traffic? That's because you never offer them anything to keep them coming back. Creating your email list is the best way to retain visitors or subscribers in no time. Not adopting such email marketing strategies means you are likely to lose a lot.

Significance of eCommerce Email Marketing

In the following segment, we will focus on the "why" part - why one must consider eCommerce email marketing strategies, especially when you have SEO, PPC, and social media as such alternatives available. I can give you three solid reasons.

#1 Developing Customer Relationships

Search engines and social media platforms are great, but emails tend to be more personalized and customized. Also, they are the best way to maintain relationships in the long run. For example, would you buy a product from a new brand or prefer to buy from already familiar brands? I am sure you would choose the latter one. Emails can be said to be a part of the latter category. They encourage customers to make new purchases and engage more.

Tip: Business owners and innovative small to mid-sized organizations might consider using an email marketing tool, such as Flodesk, to create more personalized and visually appealing emails that have a positive, long-lasting effect on potential customers.

#2 Legit at Driving Sales

Another crucial reason to consider email marketing over other options is that it can potentially drive incredible sales. A study reveals that businesses can earn around £32.28 or more for every dollar spent on email marketing. Can you believe that? When you invest in SEO or social media platforms, the returns are unfortunately never guaranteed. Fortunately, this is not the case with email marketing strategies.

Another interesting report from HubSpot says that more than 64% of their email marketing strategies turned out to be effective, as they were able to meet their business goals to date.

#3 Killing Several Birds with One Arrow

The next alluring reason to choose email marketing strategies is that you can kill several birds with one stone. For example, you can:

• Send automated welcome emails to enhance conversion rates.
• Send promotional emails to increase customer purchases.
• Send personalized or customized emails to offer the right product to the right customer.

Further below, I would like to mention a few crucial types of eCommerce emails to keep tabs on:

It's time to boost sales productivity with email marketing tool. For that, here are a few steps to take into account:

Step 1 - Hire experienced email marketers

Step 2 - Be realistic and create sustainable goals.

Step 3 - Choose relevant software such as MailChimp or Constant Contact.

Step 4 - Outline the entire campaign, ranging from welcome emails to abandoned carts, new product launches, promotional offers, etc.

Step 5 - Setting relevant landing pages.

Step 6 - Keep analyzing and making relevant changes.

Moving on, let me shed some light on some of the best eCommerce email marketing strategies to consider, especially when you are willing to gain a competitive edge.

Best eCommerce Email Marketing Strategies to Boost Sales

#1 Don't Ignore the Subscriber List

Unfortunately, eCommerce store owners tend to ignore the subscriber list and jump to the next step. However, one must know that the email subscriber list is the basic or core aspect of any successful email marketing strategy. After all, you should know who has signed up for the newsletter.

If you have already been using email marketing for a while, you need to know that it is not a one-time procedure. The subscriber list requires decluttering at regular intervals. Do you think those subscribers who signed up a few years ago would still be willing to interact with your emails? Of course not!

Email marketing succeeds when the subscriber engages with the newsletter and not just delete it without opening it. So, to declutter wisely, make a list of people or visitors who haven't opened your emails, especially in the past six months. Next, send them a reactivation or an alluring email with an enticing offer. Lastly, do not forget to ask them whether they want to remain on your subscriber list or not. Something like this:

The more updated your subscriber list is, the more successful your email marketing strategy will be. At least, by cleaning the subscriber list, your emails won't be caught by spam filters.

#2 Personalization is a Must

The next exciting marketing tip that must be considered is to try personalizing emails for different target segments. Isn't it unfair to serve the same menu to various population segments? Also, can you target an entire audience with one message? Here, personalization comes into play.

You are not just trying to make a sale but also showing concern for your customers. Apart from this, you can even send an email featuring a birthday card as well as a promotional offer as a personalized gift.

It's all about making them feel special, and what do you get in return?

• Increased Return on Investment
• Better Engagement
• Enhances the sender's Reputation and Image
• It makes end users more comfortable
• Meeting the expectations of the customer
• Reduced Bounce Rates

#3 Include a Clear Call to Action

The third important eCommerce email marketing tip to keep in mind is to include a clear call to action. After reading your email, what exactly do you want your subscribers to do? It doesn't matter what the content is, whether it's about reading the post, watching a promotional video, or showcasing the latest products; the customer should do what you precisely want them to do. A clear call to action is necessary. A button or a hyperlink that has the potential to boost sales by 1617% is no joke!

A good call to action can compel customers to engage more and more with your eCommerce store. Try using strong action words such as buy, shop, order, reserve, save, add to cart, pick, view, etc.

For example:

• Buy now and get 50% off!
• Limited-time offer: Get free shipping!

Just remember to keep the message concise, keep the tone conversational, and use action-oriented words.

#4 Emails Need to be Responsive and Well-Designed

Another interesting eCommerce email marketing strategy to consider is to develop well-designed and responsive emails for your customers. Don't do it just for the sake of doing it; instead, do it properly. Whether you are designing a welcome email, giving any promotional offer, or any kind of transactional email, just make sure each one is highly responsive and comprises alluring images and GIFs. Gone are the days when your customers were free to read text-only emails. So what exactly you need to do is:

• Make it visually appealing
• Mobile responsive
• Easy to understand
• Grabs the attention of the reader

No matter how many alluring images or GIFs you incorporate in the email, just remember this: Nothing in the world can replace the power of words. Come up with an exciting subject line and a hook that compels your readers to read the email thoroughly. Moreover, you can even consider upselling or cross-selling your emails. This works wonders for transactional emails.

Keep tabs on the subject line, preview text, product imagery, layout, image size, font size, font color, button color, copy, pricing and discounts, social media icons, and so forth.

#5 Feedback is a Must!

Last but certainly not least, receiving feedback at regular intervals is extremely important. Reviews and feedback must be taken into account at all costs, and you must make all the necessary changes. Come up with something like this:

I am pretty sure that those customers who are well-engaged with you will not hesitate to provide relevant feedback and reviews. You can also think about creating a referral program. The power of word-of-mouth advertising cannot be underestimated. It will be an excellent addition to your eCommerce email marketing strategy.

Final Verdict

This is how you can achieve the best results with eCommerce email marketing. The key is to stick to what you are doing, keep regular tabs on your campaigns, and make necessary changes. There are many metrics to keep track of. So what are you waiting for? It's time to boost your sales! Email is 20 times more effective and successful than finding new customers through social media channels. I promise you that eCommerce email marketing is not that difficult now that you have the best strategies in hand. I hope you found this post worth reading. Now, nothing can stop you from boosting engagement and conversions!