What Is Email Marketing?

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You are feeling bored one evening and decide to do some window shopping on an Ecommerce app. It suggests a product that piques your interest. But, you are not sure about buying it. So, you add it to your cart, thinking you will decide later.
A few days later, you get an email from the online store. It reminds you that you left a product in the cart. Incidentally, a customer review added to the email tells you how ‘awesome’ the product is. You find it interesting and decide to buy the product.
That’s an example of how email marketing works!

One of the Oldest Digital Marketing Methods!

Simply put, email marketing entails sending marketing messages to groups of your subscribers. Through email marketing, you can:

• Introduce your products and services to your subscribers
• Remind them about your brand
• Encourage or guide them to buy from you
• Make them come back for more

It is also one of the oldest and most widespread marketing channels of this era. This is because emails do not depend on web applications like Google or Facebook. Rather, its foundation is a web protocol itself (SMTP in this case).
This makes it immune to changes brought about by web applications. Moreover, almost all have an email address these days. These qualities make email an ideal marketing medium.

Benefits of Email Marketing for Ecommerce

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1. Cost-Effective Marketing Method

Let’s cut to the chase right away. Email marketing does not entail large-scale investment.
Of course, you might have to buy a software platform to automate email campaigns. But, that is far lesser than the cost of other online and offline marketing methods. It is particularly attractive for Ecommerce stores in their infancy.
They don’t have to splurge money buying advertising space on print or digital media. Instead, they can use their limited resources to design good email marketing campaigns.

Relevant : Ecommerce Advertising

Attractive Return on Investment

According to a recent study, for every $1 you invest in email marketing, you can expect a return of $38. Moreover, some platforms allow you to use their services for free at the start of your business.

2. Easy to Kick Start and Control

It is easy to kick off the email-marketing campaigns of your Ecommerce store. The hardest part is collecting email IDs.
Remember, do not use a purchased list. These people did not voluntarily give you their email addresses. You will only annoy them with ‘unsolicited’ emails.

Permission-based lead collection

Keep your email ID collection legitimate. Use flyouts, signup forums, quizzes, or popups to collect them. You can then start segmenting your subscribers based on what they do on your website.
Extra : Subscribers are those who chose to receive emails from you. This makes them an ‘excitable’ lot. And emails, by their nature, demand action from us (a click or a reply). This makes them the ideal medium to convey your messages.

3. Allows You to Connect with Customers

Done right, email marketing is a great way to connect with your customers whom you have gained through SEO services for ecommerce. You see, an email gives a personalized experience to the receiver. They are not receiving a marketing message on TV, in a newspaper, or on social media. They are getting an email addressed to them with content meant for them.

One-on-one conversation

You, the Ecommerce store, address them by their name and tells them about offers. You can drop them an email on their birthday and give them a discount on a product.
You can send them newsletters containing useful information. All this will make your brand a household name for the customers. Thus, email marketing lets you have a one-on-one conversation with your customers.

4. Higher Conversion Through Targeted Mailing

One thing that buyers do not like is receiving irrelevant marketing messages. You wouldn’t want to know about a discount on a product you bought last week, would you?
But, you might want to know about the different uses of the product.
Email marketing gives you the means to send relevant information to your customers. This you can do by segmenting your mailing list.

Relevant : Benefits of High Converting Landing pages for Ecommerce

Why segment your mailing list?

To send relevant messages, you need to group your customers. You can group them based on where they stand in the marketing funnel.
You can group them according to their location or demographics. Thus, segmentation helps you draft relevant messages that customers can relate to. When they do, they are more likely to buy from you.

5. Gives You Great User Generated Content

Email marketing allows you to seek customer reviews. It is the easiest way to gather great User Generated Content (UGC). You can build a library of rich content without spending a penny!
Display these reviews and survey results across your marketing channels as social proof. You can also add UGC in your email marketing to drive more sales.

Learn about customer behavior

Along the way, you get to learn more about your customers. If a customer writes a bad review, that’s your golden chance to improve your business. It’s like opening a window to a person’s buying behavior.
Use the opportunity to reply and begin a conversation. Use the insights you gained to improve your business.

Type of Email-Marketing Campaigns for Your Ecommerce

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For all its advantages, email marketing is a field where you need to tread carefully. If you do not, you are going to squander great opportunities. Here are 12 email-marketing campaigns to get you started.

1. Welcome Emails

An email marketing campaign is a set of emails targeted at a group of subscribers. It has a specific purpose: Encouraging a customer to do an action or guide them towards it.
The easiest of them is the ‘Welcome email’ campaign. After they sign up, these emails, which you send to your subscribers, have a high opening rate. Use this tendency to ease them into the next stage of the customer lifecycle.

Make the right impression

Though signed up, your new customers may not completely believe in you. So, use welcome emails to make a great first impression.
Use a combination of convincing copy and design to encourage them to head to your website. If you can, offer a discount coupon as well. Also, include an option for them to set their preferences on receiving emails from you.

2. Thank you/purchase Again Emails

According to a recent study, the odds of you getting another sale from your first-time buyers are 32%. They are 52% for second-time buyers and 83% for 10th-time buyers.
For this to happen, however, you need to have a vigorous marketing campaign in place. A great way to start is by forming a ‘Thank you email’ campaign. You can create these campaigns for your first and second-time buyers.
Customers like to get such emails as they show you value their patronage, which you should. Within the email, you can place a product suggestion for their next purchase.
Note : Send your customers an email without any marketing intent once in a while. Tell them, preferably in the traditional letter format, how much you value them.
Sound like a person talking to another person. Such emails will help you connect with your customers at a personal level.

3. Cart-abandonment Emails

Every year, Ecommerce stores lose a ton of money because of cart abandonment. Remember the story we began this article with? Well, that’s pretty real.
Many people leave items in their cart without checking out. ‘Cart-abandonment emails’ can convince them to complete the shopping process. 29.9% of the clicks on such emails lead to purchase.
Great copy, impressive Call-to-Action (CTA) oneliners, and quality images can work wonders. Also, ask your customers why they abandoned the cart. If it’s the pricing or shipping charges, consider offering discounts.

Relevant : Discounts and Its Benefits for an Ecommerce Website

This way, you can enhance customer experience and gain their loyalty. Note that this kind of campaign is not time-bound. They have to run continuously.

4. Announcement Emails

These are time-bound but recurring email campaigns. Use these emails to tell your customers about the arrival of a new product. The segmentation of your email list is crucial for the success of this campaign.
Make sure you have high-quality images or GIFs of the products. It is advisable to show them in real-life situations along with a compelling copy.

Just-for-you emails

Email segmentation helps you group your subscribers according to their buying behavior. This lets you recommend products to them. Such recommendation emails, provided they have a compelling subject line, will get clicks.
You can also present them as ‘Pick-of-the-day’ products. Explain their features and how customers can use them. Include social-proof (review or rating) to encourage purchase.

5. Holiday Season Emails

It is one of the quintessential marketing campaigns for any business. Such emails inform the customers about the deals and offers during holidays.
You can begin these campaigns before Halloween, Christmas, New Year, among others. These are broadcast emails that you can send to almost all or a large percentage of your customers.

Relevant : Tips to Perform Local SEO for the Holidays

When seasons change

Have you received an email going gaga about a winter/summer clearance sale? That is an example of a seasonal e-Marketing campaign.
These emails recommend products suitable for a particular season (sunglasses for summer). They often contain clever copy and attractive imagery.

Ahead of events/special days

You can send these emails ahead of certain days or events. Send an email asking your young subscribers to buy gifts for their parents on Father’s Day or Mother’s Day.
Tell them about your new environment-friendly products for Earth Day. Explore the many possibilities you have.

6. Upselling Emails

These contain details about products related to the ones a customer had bought. The products may be upgrades or accessories. Let’s take an example. Imagine you bought a camera two weeks ago.
While checking out, the online store suggested a tripod. But, you chose not to buy it at that time.
You got the camera a few days later. While using it, however, you realized that having a tripod would be nice. Now, if you receive an email talking about a great deal on tripods, you are more likely to buy it.
This is the idea behind ‘Upselling emails.’ Also, using email for upselling affords you the space needed to include pictures or UGC.

Tip : Wait until the customer receives and uses the product. Only then will your email have any effect.

7. Customer-feedback Emails

Such emails seek reviews and ratings for a product a customer bought. They can also be a survey or a questionnaire. Such emails, believe it or not, are the cogs and wheels of your journey forward.
They provide valuable insights into customer behavior and satisfaction.
Send these emails a few days after the customer receives and uses the product. There are three major ways to elicit feedback through email.

• Taking the customers to a third-party website to submit feedback.
• Placing the rating system for a survey directly in the email
• Directing them to a feedback option on your app or website.

Though there is nothing wrong with the first two options, it is the third one that’s the most effective. It encourages your customers to continue shopping after submitting their feedback.

8. Newsletter Emails

Do not fudge the difference between promotional emails and newsletters. The latter is all about nurturing your relationship with your customers.
Effective newsletters do not harp on about great deals on your store. Rather, they tell a compelling story or share a piece of useful information.
Explain to your customer about the principles that founded your business. Tell them about someone who experienced a profound change in their life using a product.
Use the stories in and around your brand to stir emotions and strike a chord with your customers.

Show your credibility

Also, newsletters allow you to project yourself as an authority on the products you sell.
Spread awareness on the superiority of a particular material or products made thereof. Tell them how they can protect the environment by preferring to buy such products.
You can also become a trailblazer, starting fashion trends or lifestyle changes. Newsletters afford you enormous possibilities.

9. Customer-regain Emails

This email campaign aims at reactivating customers who have not purchased in a long time. They might have forgotten about you or are having a bad time. As an Ecommerce -store owner, however, you cannot afford to lose a patron.

Tell them you miss them

Send reactivation emails to those who have been inactive for the past three months. Remember, this email campaign demands more aggressive marketing than ‘Thank-you emails.’ You may have to offer a coupon or a special offer to spur their interest in your store again.

Trim your mailing list

You must remove inactive subscribers from your mailing list. If you keep mailing them, you will end up hurting your credibility. When you should remove them, however, it depends on how often you send emails.
The higher the frequency, the faster you should remove inactive subscribers. Trimming your email list will also increase your ROI.

10. Back-in-Stock Emails

Ever felt that pang on learning that your favorite product is not in stock? Well, a lot of your customers might feel the same when they find their favorite products out of stock.
To prevent them from going to a competitor, create a ‘Back-in-stock email’ campaign.

Win back your customers

Such emails rekindle the purchasing intent of customers when you restock the product. Their three key components are:

• The subject line
• The mail body
• The CTA

The subject line should tell the customer why they are receiving the email. For example: “We got it for you! .................. back in stock. Hurry!”
In the body, you can use a combination of images and text. Remember to display the product in the exact size or color as the customer had selected.
Now, give the finishing touch with an alluring CTA. This should not be wordy. Be concise and clever.

11. Anniversary Emails

This is an amazing marketing strategy that can get you both sales and the loyalty of customers. There are two types of anniversary emails. The first is for the anniversary of your company’s establishment.
The second is for the anniversary of your customer’s signing up with you. The USP of anniversary emails is that they are rare -- only two emails a year. If used cleverly, however, they can boost your sales.
These emails are also your chance to thank your customers for their patronage. If you can, give them something -- a discount or a coupon. If you can’t, at least make them smile with some great copy!

12. Summary Emails

If a customer has been inactive for a while, let them catch up on the latest developments with a ‘Summary email.’ This marketing email does two tasks at a time.

• Remind the customer that it is time they made a purchase
• Show them the latest product arrivals or trends

It is through the second task that summary emails influence purchasing decisions.
Through summary emails, you can display the best-selling products in your store. These may be entirely new products or upgrades or accessories of the ones customer have. Or you can show them some of the ‘must-have’ products that others are buying.
As these products are already popular, the receiver might head to your website to check them out. If you find it difficult to create an email marketing campaign then you can leave it to our ecommerce SEO experts. Drop your details here.