After months of gruelling test runs and marketing pitches, you’re finally ready to launch your new product or e-commerce store. But until the sales start pouring in, you won’t feel relieved.
After the ribbon-cutting and the cocktails, you may be wondering how you can set up a strong customer base and get repeat sales. You’re mulling your options, social media marketing, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising, and search engine optimisation, among many others.
They’re all profitable, but let’s focus on why email marketing is a highly reliable way to get those profits. Established e-commerce marketers already know this to be true: for every pound spent on email marketing campaigns, business owners get more than £36 in return. What a deal, right?
The top 5 strategies
To give you a quick reference, we listed some of the best emails sent by e-commerce businesses. You don’t have to follow these to a T, but you can start by getting to know your customers, grouping them in segments, and putting your own spin on the content.
1. Let them know you’re excited to have them
Welcome emails are always a good way to start a relationship with a new subscriber. If they signed up for your newsletter, then they’re willing to get briefed on how things work with your business. Some customers even expect you to send them a welcome email as soon as they hit the subscribe button.
Check out Wynd’s welcome email below. Not only do they greet their new subscribers, but they also share why it’s good to be part of the Wynd family. Like Wynd, you can also include a discount offer for first purchases (it’s a sure-fire way to get sales from new customers).
Source: Really Good Emails
2. Send targeted emails
Your welcome email can be generic and start initial purchases, but it’s the personalised emails that keep customers coming back. Customer segmentation, or the grouping of customers based on demographics and preferences, can help you send those targeted emails to the right individuals in your mailing list.
To make this even more effective, try using dynamic content by crafting a similar email marketing campaign for customers, but displaying different content depending on the segmentation you choose. Do you have products specifically for teens? Professionals? Dynamic content can help you deliver the right message.
Paul Smith knows when a subscriber has not yet provided enough information about themselves, so they send an email like the one below. The more details your business has about your potential customers, the more targeted your emails can be:
Source: Really Good Emails
3. Solicit customer feedback
Online shoppers want to be convinced that what they see online is what they get on their doorstep. After shipping your product, why not send an email to know what they think about their latest purchase?
Customer feedback is a huge key to success—not only do you discover how your business is performing, but you also find out what customers really want so you can improve your catalogue further.
Like Nokia, you can ask your customers to fill out a short survey. Others use a star rating, and some use number scales. It’s up to you. Just don’t let it go beyond three minutes.
Source: Really Good Emails
4. Re-engage old or inactive customers
It’s a busy world out there, so understand if many of your customers cannot make time for a bit of online shopping. Make the re-engagement process easier by sending an email they can read while commuting to work or eating lunch at their desk.
Check out Pretty Little Things’ email below. The content highlights new wardrobe selections, tugging at the universal boredom when picking an OOTD. The email also includes links to unnamed fashion inspirations, which can get the average online shopper curious enough to check them out.
Source: Really Good Emails
5. Don’t forget special occasions
It’s undeniable that customers love receiving greetings in their inbox, but wouldn’t they love it more if they received occasion-based emails with promotions?
Holidays, birthdays, subscription anniversaries. Whatever occasion it is, make sure it’s on your calendar. Customers who receive offers on special days will expect similar offers the next year, so this email marketing campaign can be another source of repeat sales.
Here’s an example of how Nike celebrates its customers’ birthdays with a month-long discount. Make sure it’s really your customer’s birthday because greeting them on the wrong day can make your email look like spam.
Source: Really Good Emails
Conclusion
You’re an online retailer. Automatically, online marketing is your best bet to get the word out about your products.
And what better way to do online marketing than email? Compared to other platforms, email still rings in the most money. Nonetheless, you can use social media marketing, SEO, and PPC advertising to get potential customers to subscribe to your mailing list to help with your ecommerce and further boost your brand.
If you leverage customer data well enough and segment your customer base further, email marketing can also point you to the right customers, who will eventually be your business’s advocates (if they love your product).
So what are you waiting for? Send those emails, monitor engagement, and watch customers click checkout.
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