Imagine that you've just launched your online store, but it takes a long time to close sales, or you end up not selling anything. E-mail marketing for e-commerce is a way to turn this around.
According to a survey by Statista, 41% of B2B companies believe that e-mail marketing is the best channel for selling and advertising products.
Through e-mail marketing, you promote products/services and strengthen relationships with users by sending news, blog post suggestions from your site, valuable content, offering discount coupons, among other things.
However, simply creating a web page isn't enough to achieve good results. A set of strategies is needed to ensure the e-commerce site is discovered by users in search engines and generates sales.
Not sure exactly which direction to take? This article will guide you!
We have prepared this content for you to learn the best practices to increase conversions (generate leads) and, consequently, enhance the chances of sales.
Throughout this content, you'll learn about:
By the end of the article, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of e-mail marketing for e-commerce!
Everything in marketing is done with planning, and e-mails are no exception. You need to plan the e-mail marketing campaigns for your e-commerce to be more precise in your strategies, follow a schedule, and thus, achieve continuously improving results.
Here are some questions that need to be addressed when planning e-mail campaigns:
One of the secrets of successful e-mail marketing campaigns is building a high-quality e-mail list. Furthermore, it needs to be well-segmented and engaged. Thus, it will become one of the most valuable assets of your company.
A well-segmented list means having the emails of individuals who are actively engaged with your brand.
These individuals might have signed up for newsletters, downloaded an e-book, requested more information about a product or service, or purchased. They have shown active interest and are more likely to engage with your emails and take desired actions, such as making a purchase or sharing your content.
Building an e-mail list doesn't happen overnight. It requires careful and effective strategies to attract genuinely interested individuals to what your company has to offer.
Some strategies include offering something of value (like a webinar, e-book, or infographic, for instance), crafting optimized sign-up forms, and using exit pop-ups to capture email addresses from visitors about to leave the site.
List segmentation is a crucial step in making e-mail marketing campaigns more effective. By breaking down an email list into smaller groups based on specific criteria, you can craft more personalized and relevant messages for each segment.
For instance, a list can be segmented based on user behavior, geographical location, engagement level, profession, and other factors.
To maximize the effectiveness of e-mail marketing campaigns, marketers must develop campaigns that are not just informative but also persuasive.
What we mean is creating content with psychological triggers that stimulate the user to take action, such as speaking with a salesperson. Combining responsive design with valuable themes and content is essential to guide the user towards the desired action.
The email design can help grab the recipient's attention and encourage them to read further. It also needs to be adaptable to the screens of mobile devices. Call-to-actions (CTAs) should be visible, prompting the person to click on the button.
Headlines should arouse interest and promote the opening of the email. Hence, they should also contain psychological triggers like urgency or scarcity. For example: "Last chance to purchase Course X" or "Exclusive offer just for you."
The content of the email is the core of the campaign. It should be relevant to the recipient and provide value. Valuable content can include information about new products or services, useful tips, or educational content.
Marketing automation is a powerful tool for optimizing and scaling email campaigns. Through it, optimization flows are created that automatically send specific emails based on customer behavior. Here are some ways to optimize this flow:
When a new customer subscribes to your email list, one of the first things to be done is sending a series of welcome emails. These should introduce your brand, highlight your products or services, and encourage interaction.
The first email should thank the customer for subscribing and possibly offer an incentive, like a discount. Subsequent emails can provide more information about your products or services and share customer testimonials or success stories.
Marketing automation can also recover lost sales due to cart abandonment. When a customer adds products to the cart but doesn't finalize the purchase, an automatic email can be sent reminding them of the products and encouraging them to complete the purchase.
The first email can be just a reminder, while subsequent emails might include an incentive, such as a discount or free shipping.
Inactive customers are those who haven't interacted with your brand for a predetermined period. An effective way to reactivate them is through a reactivation email campaign.
These emails should acknowledge the customer's absence and show what they missed. Examples of what a customer missed could encompass new products or services, significant updates, or engaging content. It's also a good idea to include a special offer to encourage them to return.
To ensure that email marketing campaigns are performing at their best, carrying out A/B tests and carefully analyzing the results is essential. This way, one can optimize key email elements and understand what works best for the audience.
A/B tests involve comparing two versions of an email to see which one performs better. You can test almost any component of your email, including the subject line, CTA, and design.
To conduct an A/B test, you must split the email list into two random groups. Afterward, send version A of the email to one group and version B to the other. Then, analyze which email performed better based on metrics you wish to improve, like open or click rates.
Results analysis is a critical part of email marketing. Some essential metrics to track include:
Marketing managers and business owners should understand the actual cost of inaction regarding e-commerce email marketing campaigns. Here are some points to consider:
Email marketing is known for its high ROI. According to industry statistics, email marketing's ROI can be up to $38 for every $1 spent. If your e-commerce business isn't capitalizing on this opportunity, you might miss out on a significant return.
Email allows you to build and maintain a direct relationship with your customers. It offers the chance to send personalized messages, exclusive offers, and relevant information.
By overlooking email marketing, you might lose the opportunity to deeply engage your customers and foster brand loyalty.
The cost of acquiring new customers is significantly higher than retaining existing ones. Through email marketing, you can send reminders of abandoned carts, exclusive discounts for clients, and reactivation messages, among other strategies that encourage customers to keep buying from you.
Without email marketing, you might experience a lower customer retention rate and a shorter customer lifecycle.
Your competitors are likely already using email marketing to boost their sales, engage customers, and enhance brand loyalty. You might be handing them a competitive edge if you're not doing the same.
4Leads specializes in performance marketing and SEO and possesses the expertise and knowledge required to help your e-commerce sidestep these losses and make the most of email marketing campaigns.
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