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Achieve e-commerce success with these email marketing hacks

Achieve e-commerce success with these email marketing hacks

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Do you often wonder, ‘I really need to add email marketing to my e-commerce business but I don’t know how?’ If this sounds like you, then you’re in the right place.

Email marketing for e-commerce is one of the most powerful and cost-effective tools out there for boosting sales. Why? Because you already have access to valuable first-party contact information from your customers. Yet, surprisingly, it often gets overlooked in many marketing strategies.

If you’re an e-commerce business, think of email marketing as your secret weapon! The average conversion rate for landing page traffic driven by email is over a stunning 7%. That’s a remarkable leap from the standard e-commerce conversion rate of just 2% if your users make the conversion from any other channels (Shopify). It’s a fantastic way to connect with your loyal customers and engage potential buyers, helping you build relationships that can lead to upselling and cross-selling opportunities. Yes, sometimes customers need a little extra encouragement, and nurturing these relationships is key. 

What better way to do this than by sliding right into their inbox with personalised emails? Share information that resonates with them, and show them that you are authentic, reliable and passionate about delivering amazing products that truly add value.

When your customers see that you genuinely care and offer them relevant content through your emails, you’ll create a powerful path to guaranteed sales. But before you dive into the exciting world of email marketing, it’s essential to understand the steps involved in crafting a winning email marketing strategy that can scale your e-commerce business. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Grow your e-commerce email list

Growing an email list of users who willingly want to receive marketing content is not an easy feat, but it’s a game-changer for a successful e-commerce marketing strategy. Persistence and right timings are the key factors that can turn users into paying customers.

Your e-commerce email list gives you direct access to your audience, allowing you to nurture relationships and turn leads into loyal customers. The best part? You’re in control—no more relying on social media or search engine algorithms. With an email list, you decide when and how to reach your subscribers. 

Ready to take your ecommerce email marketing game to the next level? Start with building your email list!

Firstly, you have to start getting good traffic to your ecommerce store, through SEO, referrals or paid ads. Then you have to implement strategies that encourage users to add their contact information. It doesn’t have to be a purchase right off the bat, even getting the user to sign up for offers, relevant content and referrals is a win. 

6 easy ways to build your email list

1. Newsletter sign-ups: Newsletters can keep your customers in the loop with interesting updates about your products or industry. You can encourage people to sign up by offering exclusive, helpful content they actually care about. For example, if you run a wellness e-commerce store selling vitamin gummies or protein powders, you could create a newsletter talking about how a certain vitamin helps with sleep. Then, connect that information to your product lineup—like suggesting gummies with that vitamin. If someone bought a product to improve energy or sleep, this kind of content could nudge them to try out something new.

        Tip: Your newsletter shouldn’t feel like a hard sell. Keep the focus on helping your customers. Share useful tips, not just products. For instance, alongside your product suggestions, you could link to a Spotify playlist of calming music to help them relax and sleep better. It’s all about adding value and showing you’re genuinely trying to help!

        Example of a newsletter sign up from Dolce & Gabbana

        Example of a newsletter sign up from Dolce & Gabbana

        2.Account sign ups: Another way to grow your email customer list is to encourage visitors to create an account on your website. When users sign up, they can save wishlists, store contact details, and make future checkouts a breeze. The trick is to get creative with your approach! 

              For example, right when a customer is about to leave their wishlist, prompt them with a sign-up option. It’s all about timing—catch them at that moment when they’re already engaged with your products. A little incentive like the convenience of saving their preferences, can be all it takes to get them on board and help you grow your customer list!

              3.Offers: We all love free stuff and sales so apply the same logic to your customers too. Providing your users free product samples with the first purchase or some percentage off during checkout for signing up can entice them to use the offer and grow your email list. 

                  If you want to get creative with this, add some gamification elements like spin the wheels or countdown for the offer, a sense of urgency can speed up the buyer’s journey.

                  Example of an offer sign up from Restated Vintage

                  Example of an offer sign up from Restated Vintage

                  4. Check out: It is very common practice to request new users to sign up during checkout and for good reason. At least 65% new users create an account during the checkout process (Knowband) given the account creation is quick and easy.

                  5. Referral programmes: Give your users incentives like percent off, free samples, exclusive access to content if they refer their friends and family to your products. It will help get additional sign ups from users that may not have heard of you just yet and grow your customer list. More importantly, you will get free word of mouth (WOM) marketing out of it that can build trust for your brand with new users.

                  Example of “refer a friend” sign up from Omsom

                    Example of “refer a friend” sign up from Omsom

                    6. Downloadables: Offer your website users a helpful resource to download, something related to your products that’s exclusive to your products or industry. This will help you get those extra sign ups. For example, you can create a five-pager PDF that breaks down how to maximise your product’s benefits. If your product needs some technical knowledge, this gives the users another opportunity to sign up if they use a guest checkout option.

                    Bonus hack:  Email pop-ups convert 4.1% website visitors on an average (Wisepops). Use pop-ups on your website at different stages of the user journey to increase the probability of getting users to sign up with their information. 

                    Step 2: Segment for higher engagement

                    Now that you have a good number of subscribers signed up, you should consider segmentation. This means segmenting your audience to ensure it’s more personalised.  It ensures that you’re maximising your e-commerce growth through email marketing campaigns. Sending targeted emails can boost open rates by 14.32% and click-through rates by 54.79% (mailerlite.com). If you’re serious about nailing your ecommerce email marketing, segmentation is key, and we’ve laid out how to do it right.

                    What is email segmentation?

                    Segmentation is dividing your email list into categories so that you can share personalised and targeted emails that will encourage users to take desired actions. Don’t worry, it will not take rows and rows of an excel sheet to segment your emails and any email marketing tools you go for will most likely have segmentation features. More on this in the next step, but first we will show you 3 ways to segment your email list.

                    1.Demographics: You can segment your email list by diving into your users’ demographics. This works wonders when you’re targeting different regions, age groups, genders, income levels, or life stages. Let’s stick with the wellness e-commerce example—imagine you’re selling vitamin D gummies in a range of flavours. You could send out a newsletter to users in areas where winter’s setting in, highlighting how vitamin D helps during those gloomy, low-sun months. By segmenting based on geographical regions, you’re hitting the right audience at just the right time, leading to better results and more engagement!

                      Email Newsletter

                      2. Behaviour and interest: You’ve probably got a nice long list of emails from different channels. Now, the trick is to personalise your messages based on where the users came from and what they’re looking for. Some users might be on your list to get the latest news on product launches, price drops, or sales, while others might have just signed up for that 20% discount on their next order. By understanding your users behaviour, you can tailor your content to keep them engaged instead of annoyed.

                        And here’s the fun part—many email marketing tools let you sort users into different interest groups. For instance, if someone snagged some vitamin D gummies from your wellness store, you can add them into the vitamin D interest group and the gummies interest group. A great follow-up could be sharing tips on the best times to take those vitamins or how to get the most out of their supplement. This kind of content not only builds trust but also sets you up for some awesome cross-selling opportunities down the road!

                        3. User journey: The type of message you send through email marketing depends a lot on where your customer is in their journey with your brand. If someone’s never purchased from your store before, your focus should be on building awareness and showing how your products can make their life better. On the other hand, for loyal customers who’ve shopped with you multiple times, you can start introducing product bundles or complementary items to enhance their experience. 

                          Tailoring your approach like this helps keep your communication relevant and engaging at every stage. This newsletter by Minna is a good example of an awareness stage campaign.

                          Minna Email Newsletter

                          By now, you have a grasp on how to segment your audience best for your e-commerce email marketing campaign. Building the segmentation and curating your content to reflect your audience needs and wants will help you increase your ROI from this channel. Still unsure about making it work? Contact us and we’ll take care of your email marketing.

                          Step 3: Pick the tool that best matches your business

                          Now that you have a growing email list and have also pinned down how to segment your customers into groups to drive relevant content, the next thing you need to figure out is which tool to use to run a successful email marketing campaign. Before we jump into a list of tools, you should consider some of the below criterias before you go all in:

                          1. Ease of use
                          2. Automation 
                          3. Pricing
                          4. Email design capabilities
                          5. Segmentation capabilities

                          1. Ease of Use

                          Mailchimp: Known for its user-friendly, intuitive interface, Mailchimp is great for beginners and those who want a straightforward email marketing solution. It’s perfect for beginners or businesses that want simple, effective tools to run campaigns without getting bogged down in complexity.

                          Klaviyo: While Klaviyo offers advanced features, it has a steeper learning curve compared to Mailchimp. However, it’s packed with powerful tools for e-commerce businesses. It might be a better fit for marketers with experience or for those who need highly detailed, data-driven strategies to optimise their campaigns effectively.

                          2. Automation

                            Mailchimp: Provides basic and essential automation workflows, which are great for an easy, non-intrusive structure, like welcome emails and abandoned cart reminders.

                            Klaviyo: Offers advanced automation options, allowing you to create complex workflows and personalised customer journeys based on your audience’s behaviour tracking.

                            3. Pricing

                              Mailchimp:If you’re looking for email marketing alone, with no sms features, the basic plan starts at $29/month. You can try out the free version for one month.

                              Klaviyo: Starts at $29/month for the basic plan, which is the same as Mailchimp but is limited to 5000 email sends per month. There is a free month plan offered as well, with only 500 sends a month, so if your e-commerce business has a smaller customer list, you can start here.

                              4. Email design

                                Mailchimp: Makes email design user-friendly with three main template categories:

                                • basic templates offer responsive starter emails, customisable via a drag-and-drop designer 
                                • themes provide pre-designed options that you can tweak to fit your brand, or
                                • If you prefer coding, the code your own category lets you paste, import HTML, or upload .zip files, all while providing a live preview. You can easily manage and edit your templates in the dashboard.

                                Klaviyo: Makes high-performing email design easy and customisable with its drag-and-drop editor.You can choose from a variety of templates or start fresh to match your brand’s style. Emphasising mobile-first design, Klaviyo ensures your emails look fantastic on mobile devices. Plus, you can personalise your content using dynamic blocks and show/hide features, tailoring your messages based on user behaviour and data. 

                                5. Segmentation

                                  Mailchimp: You can use a combination of five conditions, based on the customer’s relationship with your business.

                                  Klaviyo: Here you can get powerful segmentation capabilities, based on deeper audience insights, allowing you to categorise your audience into specific groups based on factors like demographics, purchase behaviour, or engagement levels following RFM model (recency, frequency and monetary value).

                                  Here is a summary of all feature comparisons for the three tools we have discussed:

                                  FeatureMailchimpKlaviyo
                                  Ease of useUser-friendly, intuitive interfaceAdvanced features, steeper learning curve
                                  AutomationEssential automation workflowsAdvanced automation, create complex workflows
                                  PricingStarts at $29.99/month for Essentials planStarts at $29.99/month for Basic plan
                                  Email designcustomisable templates, no coding required but allows to build from code tooAdvanced customisations, create exactly what your envision
                                  SegmentationBehaviour segmentation based on landing page and websiteAdvanced segmentation on the bases of Recency, Frequency and Monetary value 

                                  Step 4: Create compelling content design 

                                  You can create a banging strategy behind the scenes, but what really matters is what your customer sees in their inbox and how they feel about it. A great visual design and content can make someone convert even if they do not entirely fall into your criteria. 

                                  From the subject line to the bottom call to action (CTA) button, everything has to come together to make your customer want to take action from that email, so it will serve your business well if you can really nail the email content itself. 

                                  5 essential tips to consider when building your ecommerce email marketing content

                                  1. Branding consistency: Your branding plays a big role in helping customers recognise you easily. When they’re sifting through their emails, your logo and brand colours should be the first things that catch their eye. While it might be tempting to shake things up occasionally, doing so can confuse your customers and make your emails feel less authentic. This could even lead to them unsubscribing or feeling like they’re hearing from a different brand altogether.
                                  2. Personalised subject lines: Subject lines make the first impressions of your email even before it gets opened. Remember to build subject lines based on your segmentation as you have better chances to create something of value. Continuing with our favourite wellness ecomm brand example, if you have segmented your email list by gummies, powders and tablets (product segmentation), you might have an idea of how soon they get over. As you approach that time, it will be good to send an email to an existing customer (behaviour segmentation) with the subject line: Running low on your wellness gummies? Get 5% off on reorder. This will get your customers to click through the email and see what it’s all about. 
                                  3. Include a clear call to action, multiple times: You have to remind the customer why they opened the email, so include that CTA button at the top and bottom of the email. Reword it to say different things but mean the same. Use the right landing page to keep their journey frictionless and take the desired action without any deviations. You can call the “Buy Now” button “Grab now”, “Reorder”  and more. Be creative. 
                                  4. Mobile optimisation: Make sure to optimise your email content for mobile devices. With 46% of all email opens happening on mobile (HubSpot), it’s crucial that your emails look great on smaller screens. Ensure all your content is easily visible without needing to scroll left or right, and aim for it to take no more than three scrolls to read through and take action. This way, you’ll make it super easy for your readers to engage with your message, no matter what device they’re using. 
                                  5. A/B test: A/B testing, or split testing, is a proven way to fine-tune your email content until you find that perfect version that really drives clicks and sales. Basically, you send two different emails to the same audience segment (just split your list in half) and see which one performs better. You can test things like images, subject lines, email content, CTA buttons, or even landing pages. The best part? The insights you gain aren’t just for one email; you can use what you learn to create high-performing templates that you can roll out to your segments again and again.
                                  Email Marketing Meme

                                  Step 5: Automate your emails for efficiency

                                  As an e-commerce business, it’s important to send emails to your customers regularly, but we all know that it’s not always easy to do that on time. That’s where email automation saves the day! Once you set up automations in your email marketing tool (like the ones we mentioned earlier), you’re good to go. Beyond just saving time, automated emails can boost your e-commerce revenue by up to 320%! (Campaign Monitor)

                                  Abandoned cart reminders are especially powerful, helping you recover those missed sales effortlessly. It’s a win-win for both your schedule and your bottom line (Salesmate).

                                  How to set up email automations

                                  1. Triggers: These are specific actions or behaviours that initiate an automated email. Examples include a new subscriber joining your list, a customer making a purchase, or someone abandoning their cart.
                                  1. Workflows: These are sequences of automated emails sent based on a trigger. For example, an abandoned cart workflow might include a reminder email, a follow-up with a discount, and a final nudge.
                                  1. Personalisation: Automated emails can be highly personalised with the recipient’s name, product recommendations based on past purchases, and other relevant content.
                                  1. Consistency: Automation ensures that your audience receives timely and consistent communication, building stronger relationships and improving engagement.

                                  Now you know all the essential steps involved in running a successful email marketing campaign for e-commerce and probably have a bit of confidence in starting out. If you stick to the structure shared above, you will have good chances of creating a winning campaign! 

                                  But if you’re still in doubt, and want to improve your e-commerce results through cost effective email marketing, reach out to us here at Holmes and we can do the heavy lifting for you.

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