If you run an ecommerce business today, you may have noticed that it is much more competitive for the same market than just a few years ago.
With the rise of international logistics, dropshipping, and selling on Amazon, there are more ecommerce stores than ever before.
That means you need to have a smarter marketing strategy than your competitors.
And believe it or not, email marketing is not dead.
In fact, it is one of the most powerful ways to grow your ecommerce business — but you need to use it correctly and at the right times to be successful.
So, in this article, we will discuss the types of emails you can use and how to get people to read your emails in the first place.
That way, you can put together a powerful email campaign plan to boost your bottom line.
We'll cover the following emails:
- Welcome
- Cart abandonment
- Thank you
- Feedback/Review request
- New product announcement
- Informational
- Special deals
- Follow-up
Welcome emails
When someone first signs up for your newsletter or registers an account, you want to make them feel noticed and appreciated.
For this reason, welcome emails are incredibly powerful for ecommerce strategies.
In addition to simply welcoming them on board, you can also lay out what they should expect.
This will put them at ease and increase their likelihood of reading your future emails.
Cart abandonment emails
Many times, a customer will go as far as putting a product in their cart and then leave your site without purchasing it — abandoning their cart.
These represent highly interested prospects and pursuing them in order to encourage them to complete the purchase is worth it.
You can’t always know the exact reason that they decided not to buy in that moment, but usually it comes down to the price of the item.
Therefore, try using tracking codes to send these visitors an email with a special discount or free shipping code in order to push them over the fence to finally buy.
Thank you emails
Everyone likes to feel like the company they do business with appreciates them. After all, they’ve just spent their hard-earned money on your product.
In order to create goodwill with your market, make a habit of sending thank-you emails after each purchase.
First of all, it can confirm their order and let them know the shipping information so they can be ready for it to arrive on a certain date.
Secondly, it is an opportunity to upsell. Based on what they bought, you can recommend additional similar products to increase your revenue.
Feedback/review request emails
Understanding your market is the most important aspect of doing business.
Therefore, instead of guessing, it is much more effective to simply ask your customers about their opinions.
Feedback emails can solicit reviews of your company or product.
You can use these on your online marketing campaigns and website to boost social proof.
In addition, you can survey customers about what they like or don’t like about your ecommerce store to improve your offering.
Some good questions to ask are:
- How would you rate your experience from 1 to 10?
- If you could change anything about the product, what would it be?
- How likely are you to recommend our company to your friends?
New product announcements
When you are launching a new product, it is important that you drive as many sales as soon as possible.
That way, you can recoup the marketing, research, and development costs for this product.
Product announcement emails are a great way to do this, because you are speaking with people who are already on your list and thus interested in your ecommerce brand in the first place.
If possible, be sure to include high-quality photographs or even videos of the new product.
Such multimedia elements create an emotional impact and allow your customers to see the product in use.
Make sure to include the best benefits and features of the product to encourage clicks through to your product page.
Informational emails
Not every email needs to have the focus of selling something.
In fact, if you do this too much, it could cause fatigue. People might get tired of being sold to, and even stop reading your messages altogether.
Therefore, mix in a good amount of informational emails to your list.
This can include anything that provides “news” value and good old-fashioned information.
For instance, you can link to a recent blog post, product tutorials, news about the company, and even internal process updates that will have a direct effect on your customers to keep them in the loop.
This is also a way to make your marketing more efficient.
By simply creating one social media or blog post, you can already repurpose it as an email to increase exposure and drive additional traffic to your website, increasing conversions in the long run.
Special deals email
Special deals emails are a type of sales pitch that usually offers some special reason that your customers should buy the product soon.
Using a sense of urgency, such as a limited supply or limited time offer, is especially effective.
You can send out special deal sales for seasonal discounts, contests, birthdays, and other special occasions.
However, remember that you need a compelling subject line for these emails, because your customers are going to be inundated with so many offers on a regular basis.
For instance, imagine seeing an email like this:
Subject Line:
Hi Lisa — Get Your 24-hour Birthday Discount!
Email Body:
Happy Birthday Lisa,
We wanted to thank you for being such a great customer of ours. So for the next 24 hours during your birthday, we are giving you 30% off any product of your choosing.
We hope you’ll take the opportunity to save big and get more of the products you love today.
Click here now to start shopping!
The subject line is personalized and communicates a big benefit, while the email continues in that tone as it explains the special offer, and ends with a clear CTA.
Follow-up emails
A lot of your profits in the ecommerce industry will be made on the backend — in other words, after the initial purchase.
This is because the hard work is done.
They already trust your brand and have handed over their money.
Now, it’s time to use follow-up emails such as suggesting additional complementary items, clarifying their newsletter preferences, and even getting in touch with customers who might have added something to their wishlist to see if they’re still interested.
This shows them that you care about their specific tastes and can create additional purchases from these customers.
The customer would benefit from that additional purchase, so the website merely makes it easier to place the order.
Conclusion
There are more technologies and tools for making your ecommerce company successful than ever before.
However, your competitors also have access to these, meaning that it’s not enough to simply use them.
You need a proven strategy that enhances your brand and engages your customers.
The types of ecommerce emails above are something every business should be using.
Each one has a special use, and by using them together with a cohesive plan, they will allow you to build trust and increase sales.
So don’t hesitate to use email marketing.
Instead, do the work of putting together your email series and automating them so that each customer receives the right email at exactly the right time, allowing you to grow even faster.
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About Joe Peters
Joe Peters is a Baltimore-based freelance writer and an ultimate techie. When he is not working his magic as a marketing consultant, this incurable tech junkie devours the news on the latest gadgets and binge-watches his favorite TV shows. Follow him on @bmorepeters.
