So how do you increase sales with email marketing? Let’s take a deep dive.
Imagine you’ve two choices: buying your favorite products from the store or buying them from home — which one would you go for?
If you’re thinking — duh, the second one, that’s a no-brainer! — you’re right on point.
Well, if it’s something you’d choose, why not give the same option to your customers?
Let’s face it. An eCommerce store can pretty much seem like a physical retail store — attractive products, amazing discounts, tons of options!
And of course — the overwhelming pressure to select, compare, purchase — phew!
The result? Higher bounce rates and cart abandonment rates.
But what if your customers got a customized list of products right into their inbox? Wouldn’t that make their shopping experience and decision-making easy?
For the retail store example — that’s equivalent to keeping everything ready right at the counter so you can just pay and checkout.
Simple, isn’t it?
Enter email marketing.
How to increase sales with email marketing?
Email marketing can help businesses expand their reach, boost their conversion rates, connect with their audience, and increase sales.
If you’re like 81% of business owners, you may already be using email marketing as a part of your digital marketing strategy and reaping the benefits.
In the competitive world of eCommerce, it’s not enough for you to simply utilise email marketing the same way every other business uses this channel.
Want to unleash the full potential of email marketing? You’ve to make sure your email campaigns are effective, efficient, and personalized to help you stand out above your competition.
It’s definitely a challenging task — but not an impossible one.
To make your work easier, we’ve compiled a list of 10 super-actionable tips to help you boost your sales with eCommerce email marketing.
Let’s begin.
1. Build a Super Relevant List
An email marketing campaign is nothing without a strong email subscriber list. While you may already have a list of emails from people who’ve bought products from your business, this isn’t enough to help you make the most of email marketing.
You need to build a list of folks who’ll genuinely like to hear from you and offer content, discounts, and news that’ll be incredibly useful to them.
Build an active and engaged email list with these tips:
a. Use segmented pop-ups
Pop-ups are still relevant and useful as long as they’re targeted towards the right audience.
Avoid using the same pop-ups for each of your website visitors by utilizing pop-ups that are triggered by a shopper’s location, browsing habits, or cart size.
Take this example from MeUndies — which is geared towards new customers.
This pop-up is different from the one they would use for users who have already added at least one item to their online shopping cart and the one for users with repeated visits.
Showing different pop-ups to different consumers can help you build a strong email list. This is because you can then provide the right incentives to the right customers.
A new shopper who puts an item in their shopping cart might be enticed by a pop-up offering an immediate discount whereas a repeat shopper might be more interested in joining a membership or limited edition products.
Use segmentation with your email pop-ups to further personalize the messaging for your audience and close better sales.
b. Add value to your customer’s purchase with free eBooks and guides
Show consumers your brand cares about adding value from day one by offering a free eBook or guide in exchange for their email address:
When you provide genuinely useful content that has been deeply researched and full of helpful information, you’ll entice folks to engage further with your brand.
Besides, who doesn’t like the word “free”? Offering free products can increase sales by up to 2000 percent. It’ll also leave a positive impression on your consumers, making them more excited to be a part of your email list.
c. Be transparent! Make sure your email subscribers know exactly what they’re signing up for before they share their email address.
Now, anyone who signs up for their email newsletter knows exactly what they’ll receive.
When they trust you for the information they consume, you can direct them towards a sale easily as well (no sweat!).
d. Be creative
Don’t be boring, that’s all!
There are too many competitors out there writing the same email subject lines and copy, so being original and creative is your best bet to get the most bang out of your buck.
Look at Outrun the Dark for example. They have a compelling feature on their landing page:
Now, anyone who signs up for their email newsletter knows exactly what they’ll receive.
When they trust you for the information they consume, you can direct them towards a sale easily as well (no sweat!).
e. Add options to opt-in to your emails throughout your website
Do you just cross your fingers and pray that your website visitors will scroll through to the bottom of your landing page and see your subscription box?
Don’t leave things to chance, especially not an opportunity to grow your email list.
There are several sections on your website where you can keep a subscribe option handy:
- Your “About Us” Page: This is typically one of the most frequently visited pages on a business’ website, so it’s a great place to put an opt-in form. Plus — if people already know a bit about you and your business — they’ll be more likely to open your emails. A simple form like the one below at the bottom of your About Us page can be enough to get shoppers to do the honors.
f. Simplify your subscribe boxMake sure people aren’t turned away by the amount of information they have to provide in order to subscribe to your email newsletter.Do you really need to know your website visitors’ addresses, phone numbers, and ages when they sign up for your email list? - 2. Use Email Segmentation Best Practices to Increase Sales with Email Marketing Chances are you’re already using email segmentation to avoid sending the same emails to everyone on your subscription list.These are some of the metrics you need to take into account:
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Occupation
- Interest
- Spending habits
- Shopping history
- If you want to take your email marketing to the next level, you need to not only stop sending irrelevant email and follow the email segmentation best practices:a. Test, test, testThe only way to guarantee that your email segmentation is working is to keep testing your emails. Make it a habit to routinely check whether your segmented email campaigns are reaching the right people.Here are effective ways to test your messages:
- Solicit feedback from your readers
- Keep an eye on your open rates and other key metrics
- Use A/B testing to test different emails on different groups of subscribers and see how each group responds to your messagesb. Use data-driven segmentationBoys like blue and girls like pink. Older people hate when things are too flashy and young people love it. If you’re using preconceived notions or stereotypes like these to determine the way you target the people on your email list, you’re not making the most of email segmentation. Throw assumptions out of the window and let data guide you. Collect data and use that data to help you form adequate and appropriate segments. For example, if the subject lines “fun for the whole family” and “cozy winter essentials for everyone in the family” perform better with a certain segment of your audience, then you know that group of subscribers may be more interested in family-oriented emails.With data-driven segmentation, you can guarantee that your emails strike the right notes with your readers.c. Save your master listEmail segmentation can be problematic if you toss your master list of subscribers in favor of tons of small segmented lists. This will make it difficult for you to create new segments and make changes to your email segmentation in the future.Remember, your customers’ preferences are not set in stone and the way you need to market to them will shift over time. Make sure you have a master list that you can use to evolve and re-evaluate your segments.
- 3. Use Automation WiselyWant to make your eCommerce email marketing life easier? Automation is the way to go! But use it with caution.Automation can help send your emails at the perfect time and increase the likelihood that your emails will be opened.But here are some tips to save you from email automation fails:
- A. Don’t spam your subscribersEmail automation is a useful tool because it can help you send high-quality emails without using as much time and energy. But don’t go on an email sending spree — it may do more harm than good. With email automation, it’s far too easy to send email after email to your list with a click of a button. Consciously avoid sending emails to your subscriber list too frequently and ending up in their spam folders.Hey, you’ll love this: 5 Awesome GDPR Compliant Email Opt-In Ideasb. Add a human touchWhen you’re sending emails with the click of a button, you also run the risk of becoming too formal or robotic. Make sure you’re still coming across as a brand run by humans! Make your copy warm and inviting instead of a copy-paste template coming from an automated machine.Make it a priority to keep things personal and show the humane side of your brand.c. Set specific goalsIf someone asked for help with their New Year’s Resolution to “be healthy,” what advice would you give them? Do they need assistance with protein-rich meal recipes? Do they need help with preparing an exercise budget and schedule?There are several ways to approach a problem but unless you’re sure about the specifics, coming up with a specific solution will be challenging.Similarly, improving your email marketing automation without a specific goal in mind is like expecting to be healthy without a health goal in mind.Like everything else in your business, you need to make sure that you have a clear objective that you’re aiming towards with your email automation beyond just “finding success!”Are you trying to increase your open rate? Do you want to step up your customer service? Are you attempting to boost your conversion rate? When you have a specific goal, you can develop an email automation strategy specifically tailored to achieve it.