Introduction to Email Marketing for Ecommerce
Email marketing is an incredibly valuable channel for ecommerce businesses to leverage. When done right, email marketing can have a tremendous impact on growing and retaining your customer base as well as driving increased sales.
There are several key benefits that make email marketing so well-suited for ecommerce:
- Increased sales and revenue – Email is responsible for generating a significant portion of ecommerce sales. One study found that every $1 spent on email marketing generates $36 in return. Email helps drive both repeat purchases from existing customers as well as new sales by acquiring new customers.
- Customer retention and loyalty – Email helps build lasting relationships with customers. Customers who engage with branded emails have higher retention rates and lifecycle value. Email encourages repeat purchases and helps prevent churn.
- Cost-effective marketing – Email is one of the most cost-efficient marketing channels available. It provides an inexpensive way to reach customers directly without any middlemen or advertising fees. The costs are limited to design, delivery, and analytics.
- Personalization – Email allows extensive segmentation and personalization based on customer data and behaviors. Personalized emails have higher open and click rates, driving more conversions.
- Measurability – Email analytics provide in-depth data on open rates, clickthroughs, conversions and more. This data allows constant optimization and improvement of campaigns.
For any ecommerce business, leveraging email marketing provides a tremendous opportunity to boost sales, retain customers, and build loyalty. An effective email strategy is essential for growth.
Collecting Emails and Building Your List
Email marketing starts with building your list of subscriber contacts. Here are some of the main methods ecommerce businesses use to collect emails and grow their list:
- Website opt-in forms – Place signup forms on your site allowing customers to join your email list. Offer an incentive like a discount code or free ebook in exchange for their email address. Locate forms prominently above the fold on key pages like your homepage, Contact Us page, and product/category pages.
- Point of purchase opt-ins – During the checkout process, include a checkbox allowing customers to sign up for your email list. This captures emails at the point of conversion.
- Promotions and giveaways – Run contests and giveaways that require an email signup to enter. These attract new contacts through viral social sharing. Just follow email laws by allowing users to opt in to your emails.
- Popup opt-in offers – Use popups or slide-ins to offer downloads, discounts, and other perks in exchange for an email address. Time these to appear after someone has been on your site for a certain length of time.
- Loyalty programs– Enroll customers in an email-based loyalty rewards program when making a purchase. This gives you permission to market to them in the future.
- Retargeting ads – Use pixels to track website visitors, then show targeted email signup ads to them off-site through retargeting campaigns on platforms like Facebook.
Some best practices for your signup forms include keeping fields brief, minimizing required fields, and clearly conveying the benefits of subscribing. Only collect essential data like email, name, and any interests/segments.
Segmenting Your Email List
One of the most powerful things you can do to boost your email marketing effectiveness is to segment your list. Email segmentation simply means dividing your subscribers into groups based on different attributes, interests, and behaviors. This allows you to send more targeted, relevant, and personalized content to each segment.
Here are some of the main ways to segment your ecommerce email list:
By Demographic Data
Segment your list based on demographic info you collect like:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Income level
Send content tailored to groups like young female subscribers or high-income subscribers.
By Purchase History
Group customers who have:
- Made a purchase recently
- Have spent over a certain amount
- Purchased specific products or categories
Send emails with recommendations for additional purchases based on past buying behavior.
By Engagement Level
Segment engaged subscribers who:
- Open and click your emails frequently
- Have visited your site recently
- Have an active account
Prioritize and reward these high value segments with special offers and content.
By Interests
Divide subscribers interested in:
- Specific products, categories, or collections
- Topic areas like sales, new arrivals, etc
Cater the email content and products you promote to subscriber interests.
Using email segmentation allows you to make sure subscribers only receive emails relevant to them. This helps improve open and click rates, conversion rates, and the overall customer experience.
Creating Effective Email Content
Email subject lines are your first chance to grab the recipient’s attention. Follow these tips:
- Keep it short and compelling. Shoot for under 50 characters so the entire subject line shows in the inbox preview.
- Highlight value with phrases like “Exclusive deals” or “Just for you”.
- Ask questions like “Ready for summer?” or “What’s on your wishlist?”
- Use the recipient’s first name to personalize whenever possible. This boosts open rates.
- Test different subject lines and compare open rates to find what works best for your audience.
The email content itself should also be personalized and tailored to each subscriber’s interests. Here’s how:
- Use merge tags to insert the subscriber’s first name in your greeting and content. This makes it more relevant.
- Segment your list based on past purchases, interests, and behaviors. Send emails with matching content.
- Recommend specific products based on the subscriber’s purchase history or browsing behavior.
- Provide exclusive promotions, discounts, or sneak peeks only to targeted segments who will value them most.
- Offer subscribers content that aligns with their preferences like style guides or recipe collections.
- Share subscriber-exclusive sales and deals that increase in value based on their lifetime spend.
Don’t forget about cart abandonment emails to re-engage shoppers who left items behind:
- Trigger these immediately after abandonment to boost conversion rates.
- Remind customers of the items left in their cart with product images and descriptions.
- Offer a discount code or free shipping to provide extra incentive to complete the purchase.
- Use urgency messaging like “Don’t miss out! Final hours to save 50%”.
Testing and optimizing your email campaigns with analytics will help maximize the impact of your efforts.
Automation and Analytics
Email marketing automation and analytics tools provide invaluable insights that can help ecommerce businesses optimize their campaigns. Setting up automated workflows for common customer journeys like onboarding and loyalty programs saves time while providing a more personalized experience. Meanwhile, monitoring email analytics identifies opportunities to fine-tune and improve performance.
Automation for Onboarding and Loyalty
New customer onboarding campaigns that send a series of welcome and educational emails can help convert sales. These automated flows introduce your brand, products, and services while encouraging engagement. Similarly, creating loyalty programs with automated birthday, anniversary, and rewards emails increases customer lifetime value. Plan relevant email content that matches subscribers’ interests and behaviors for ideal timing.
Email Analytics to Track Performance
It’s essential to measure email campaign performance with analytics to identify successes and areas for improvement. Key metrics to monitor include open rates, clickthrough rates, conversion rates, revenue per email, and unsubscribe rates. Review this data regularly to see which messages resonate with subscribers and which fall flat. Testing subject lines, send times, frequency, and content will enable you to optimize your approach. Email analytics empower you to learn from results to maximize the impact of your email marketing.
