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A Beginner’s Guide to E-commerce Email Marketing
Email marketing is a largely misunderstood marketing channel in the digital marketing realm. This is especially true with most e-commerce owners who turn a blind eye to emails, oblivious to how much money they are leaving on the table.
In a world where everyone is hooked on Instagram Reels and TikTok trends, email marketing may seem like a long-lost dying art. As an e-commerce owner, it may be hard to wrap your head around using emails to scale your e-commerce empire.
“Why should I be doing email marketing for e-commerce?”, you may have asked.
Perhaps, the lack of virality and aesthetic appeal of emails may have further added to the dilemma.
But did you know that about 65% of small business owners use email marketing to engage with their customers? Now if you’re one of those skeptical people wondering if consumers even read email these days then here’s something that may shock you. Nearly 99% of consumers check and read their emails every day!
So whether you’re just converting a brick-and-mortar store to an online one or looking to scale your Shopify store to 7 figures, email marketing is extremely critical for your business.
In this blog post, we are going to demystify email marketing and also show you step by step how to make the most of it.
What is email marketing?
Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy for nurturing your customers through emails that they “opted in” for. It is a known fact that consumers don’t make purchases from the very first interaction with a brand. They need to be educated, engaged, and persuaded; they need time, proof, and sometimes even incentives to make a buying decision. To help them get over the fence and make a decision in your favor, you have to deploy strategic email sequences and campaigns. The emails sent could be as simple as a weekly informative newsletter or a complex product launch strategy with upsells, cross-sells, and downsells. In simple terms, this is what encompasses email marketing.
Now, unlike social media, email is an “owned” marketing channel that you have sole control and ownership over. With email, you are not at the mercy of algorithm changes and server blackouts.
Therefore it is a hassle-free way to acquire, retain and grow your customer base by promoting your products, and services. It allows you to communicate with your customers, build relationships and drive revenue throughout the buyer’s journey.
Why email marketing?
- It’s nearly inexpensive to get started with email marketing.
The initial setup costs required for email marketing are far lower compared to other mainstream marketing avenues. Most email service providers have free plans for up to a certain number of subscribers in the list. This gives you enough leeway to dip your toes in email marketing, test out the features, do a couple of trial runs and evaluate as you go. Considering these factors, email marketing is almost a risk-free investment for your e-comm business.
- It offers room for personalization
Email is an exceptional channel for sending highly targeted messages to your customers. While social media is more or less like blasting out messages to the masses, email gives you behind-the-doors, exclusive access to your customers. It helps you understand what stage your buyers are at depending on the actions that they take. This further allows you to reciprocate with personalized content that addresses their specific needs. It makes the conversation more personal and more conversion prone. Again, this could be as simple as customizing the subject lines and addressing them by their first name.
- It can be automated
Email marketing is a one-time, hands-off activity that sets you up for success in the long run. It automates deliverability, eliminates manual tasks, and thereby saves you plenty of time and money. Once you have a winning formula for email campaigns you can let it run on a loop for all your subscribers. Of course, you’d still have to track and tweak your emails based on the feedback that you receive from customer behavior.
- It generates a high ROI
These numbers are a reflection of the measuring and tweaking abilities of email marketing. Almost all email softwares out there make it extremely easy to test different email components like subject lines, copy angles, design, etc. These valuable insights prepare you to steer the campaign in the right direction and thereby add to the revenue bottom line.
How to get started with email marketing?
- Choose an email service provider
Before you fire out your emails, you need to first choose an email service provider. An email service provider is a software that helps you with all things email marketing. From composing emails to deliverability to tracking results.
There are a ton of ESPs out there with their own unique value propositions — while some boast of highly advanced targeting abilities, some are known for their easy tracking and reporting. Email service providers vary from strong compatibility with other marketing tools to easy-drop design features.
Before diving in head first, do your due diligence and pick the one that is aligned with the goals and outcomes that you are aiming for.
- Build an email list
Most brands believe in a “build it and they will come” approach. We hate to break it but an email newsletter pop-up on your website isn’t necessarily compelling enough.
To build an email list you need to entice your customers with a compelling lead magnet.
A lead magnet is essentially an incomplete sales tool that provides the prospect with an immediate solution. In other words, it is something valuable that is given away for free, only if and when they provide their email address. An ethical bribe of sorts.
Some lead magnets that you could consider are:
- Templates, Cheat Sheets, E-books, and Guides
- Coupon Codes
- Interactive Quizzes
- Free Consultation, Trials, and Samples
While brainstorming lead magnet ideas make sure that it is simple and actionable so that they can implement them right away and get results. Once you’ve chosen your lead magnet you need to build a stand-alone landing page that conveys the benefits of the lead magnet and nudges them to opt-in with their email address.
- Map out your email campaign
Once you have prospects trickling into your list, you need to start conversations through emails. When it comes to email, messaging is a crucial element. You need to use a copy that engages the reader and drives them to take action. You need to plan well ahead and be thoughtful of each email that you send.
To help you get started here are a few must-have email sequences for e-commerce:
Welcome Sequence
A welcome sequence is the first email touchpoint that you need to send out to members who’ve just signed up for your list. At this moment their attention and excitement levels on your brand are the highest and so you’ve got to make the most of it.
Your welcome sequence should ideally do three things:
- Thank and appreciate them for giving their time and attention to your brand.
- Share your brand values, mission, and your story.
- Give a heads up about what to expect in the coming emails
Promotional Sequence/Holiday Sequence
Promotional sequences are emails that are sent solely for promoting a product or service. For e-commerce brands, the holiday season is the most lucrative and profitable time of the year. However, the holiday joy comes with a downside as well.
Everyone receives a ton of promotional emails on a daily basis and most of them are hardly ever opened. That is why you need to put a little more thought into it if you want to stand out from the inbox.
Add a human touch by personalizing subject lines with their first name or send out a holiday letter wishing them well. Last-minute procrastination shoppers are a distinct customer vertical of their own. Cater specifically to them by sending out last-minute deals.
Abandoned Cart Sequence
Abandoned Cart Sequences are purely conversion-driven emails sent when a prospect has abandoned the cart. On average about 70% of consumers abandon their cart during checkout for various reasons. Now imagine how much lost revenue that could add up to.
Witnessing this staggering void most savvy e-commerce owners have begun to deploy abandoned cart sequences at certain intervals to remind prospects of their purchases and gently nudge them to the final action.
Also, the numbers don’t lie. The open rate for an abandoned cart email stands at about 42% and therefore is considered one of the best ways to salvage a lost sale.
Win-back Sequence
These emails are engagement emails sent to prospects who have not engaged or opened any emails for a substantial period of time. A win-back sequence aims to get them back into the sales ecosystem either with the help of incentives, free gifts, or even a survey to understand where they are at.
Transactional Mails
As the name suggests, transactional emails are straightforward emails that are sent in response to an action. Some of the most common transactional emails are order confirmation, shipping information, receipts, etc. These emails deliver important information that consumers usually expect and look forward to. Therefore making this a regular is key to building trust with your customers.
Now the most tricky question that every marketer and business owner struggles with is:
“How many emails should I send without being seen as too annoying?”
As it turns out there is no definitive answer to it. It depends on your goals, your list size, and various other factors. Be willing to experiment, work around it and view it as a learning experience that will pay off in the long run.
No matter what, don't constantly spam and disappoint your customers who specifically chose to hear from you. Stick to a schedule and make content-worthy emails a must in your sequence. That way their minds are already wired to receive value on said day and time of your email.
- Measure your campaign
Once you have emails running on schedule you need to also routinely measure and analyze them in order to make the most of email marketing.
Some of the most key metrics to measure are:
Deliverability - the percentage of emails that have landed in the prospect's primary inbox folder.
Click-through Rate - the percentage of recipients that have clicked through the Call to Action button in the email.
Open Rates - the percentage of prospects that have opened the email.
Bounce Rates - the percentage of emails that have failed to reach the inbox.
Conversion Rates - the percentage of subscribers that have taken and completed the desired action (i.e a sale)
Keeping up with these metrics will provide you with highly actionable data on the effectiveness of your strategy. As a result, you will be in a better position to understand their needs, respond with the right action steps, and thereby add up to the revenue bottom line.
Conclusion
Looking for a team of email marketing experts to set up and supercharge your email campaigns for the upcoming holiday season? Then, you’re in luck!
At Growthub, we’re obsessed with helping businesses such as yours get the growth that it deserves. Get in touch with us and we can match you with vetted email marketers in as little as 24 hrs. We screen and pre-vet the marketers on our platform, so you don’t have to. Book a call with us today