Email marketing is a powerful tool that some eCommerce store owners may overlook as something that isn’t required for success. But email marketing is vital for an effective marketing and sales strategy for any type of online business. Email marketing can be one of the most effective ways to connect with customers, boost sales, and increase customer loyalty.
If you already understand the importance of email marketing in ecommerce, then you’re a step ahead of most store owners, but how do you get started with ecommerce email marketing? In this article, we’ll show you how to use email marketing in ecommerce to grow your business and provide our suggestions for the best email marketing software for ecommerce.
What Is Email Marketing In Ecommerce?
Email marketing is a powerful tool for ecommerce businesses and is essential for connecting with customers. With email marketing, you have access to your customers and potential customers even when they’re not on your website. You can show up in their inbox to invite them to remind them about your brand and encourage them to visit your store to make purchases.
Email marketing is one of the most effective methods for increasing sales and loyalty among customers. By building an email list and implementing an email marketing strategy for your ecommerce business, you can send targeted emails to customers with special offers, announce new products, and provide other important information to get people back into your store to buy your products.
You can even set up abandoned cart emails as part of your email marketing strategy to remind customers who have left without checking out that they have something waiting in their cart. These abandoned cart emails can dramatically increase your sales if done correctly and are simple to implement!
Online stores can use an ecommerce email marketing strategy to:
- Increase sales
- Announce new products or services
- Foster loyalty and customer retention
- Provide valuable content to customers (e.g., educational articles, how-tos, etc.)
- Re-engage customers who haven’t interacted recently
- Drive traffic to your ecommerce website or blog
- Keep your business at the front of your customer’s minds with regular newsletters
Email marketing is a great way to achieve all of these things, and it’s a tool that every ecommerce business should be taking advantage of.
How to Set Up Your Ecommerce Email Marketing Strategy
Now that we’ve gone over what email marketing is and why it’s essential for ecommerce businesses let’s take a look at how to get started with ecommerce email marketing. While it might seem complicated, the hardest part is just making the decision to get started and taking action. Once you understand the basics, you can start with your own ecommerce email marketing strategy and find what works best for your business.
Choose an email service provider
First, you’ll need to decide which email service provider you want to go with. There are probably hundreds of options out there, but not all of them are great. Don’t get too stuck on this part, though. Do a little research, figure out which ones meet your true needs, and sign up so you can get started with your email marketing.
When choosing an email service provider, you’ll want to consider the following criteria:
- Pricing (what’s your budget? can you get a better price for paying annually?)
- How many emails do you need to send out each month?
- The size of your email list
- What kinds of features do you need?
- Do you need well designed templates or are you going to keep things simple?
If you need a little help deciding, we’ve reviewed some of our favorite email marketing service providers at the end of this article for you.
Start building your email list
The reason it’s crucial to get started as soon as possible is so that you can start building your email list immediately. Don’t put it off for six months because you’ll miss out on all the email subscribers you would have gained during that time and wish you had started sooner! Even if you’re not sure what to send or what your email marketing strategy will be like yet, start collecting those emails to start to grow your email list and have customers and potential customers to email when the time comes.
Remember that to build your email list, subscribers will have to voluntarily opt-in so you can’t just start adding current customers to your list without their permission. We’ll talk a bit more about opt-in’s in a few steps.
Set up a pre-launch page
If you want to start growing your email list right away, one of the best things you can do is set up a pre-launch page. A pre-launch page is a simple page on your ecommerce website that has one purpose: to get people to sign up for your email list in anticipation of your launch. That means you don’t even have to be open for business yet!
Your pre-launch page should include:
- Compelling copy that will encourage people to want to sign up for your emails
- A short explanation of what people will get by signing up for your emails (exclusive coupons, early access to new products, etc.)
- An email opt-in form
- (optional) Promotional incentive for signing up (such as a special discount on launch day)
Don’t get too caught up on the design of the pre-launch page. Instead, keep it simple and on brand so that the opt-in form stands out and there isn’t too much information to dig through. If you crowd it too much, viewers can get overwhelmed and click away. There is one main thing you want anyone landing on that page to do: sign up for your emails.
A pre-launch page is a great way to start building your email list early on so that you have a group of people to email when you’re ready to launch your ecommerce store.
Collect emails from sales and customer accounts
If your ecommerce store is already live and making sales, you can also collect emails from customers who make purchases and customers who sign up for an account in your store. These are the best types of emails to add to your email list because these are people who are actually purchasing from you so they’re already a solid lead for coming back and spending more money with you if they enjoy your products and continue to hear from your business.
Because ecommerce businesses are entirely online and customers generally need to provide their emails when placing orders, you can take advantage of many opportunities to collect customer emails so that you can follow up with them and build a relationship. You can collect customer emails during the checkout process or even when someone fills out a contact form to ask a question.
Strategically place opt-in forms
It’s not enough to collect emails from current customers during the checkout process. You also want to capture emails from those who visit your ecommerce store and may not have made a purchase yet. Ensuring that your email opt-in forms are in several places throughout your website will increase your chances of getting more email subscribers.
Some of the best places to add email opt-in forms:
- On your homepage in a prominent location. The header, navigation, or footer are all excellent options as they will be seen on every page of your website. Above the fold (like in the header or top navigation) is a great spot since some people may not make it down to your footer, but always keep the design of your site in mind. In some cases, you may be able to add your opt-in form both above the fold (before someone needs to scroll) and at the footer for maximum exposure.
- As a pop-up. One of the best pop up’s for ecommerce opt-ins is one that shows up when someone is about to leave your site. This is called an “exit-intent pop-up” and can capture people before they leave to try and at least collect their emails or offer a promotion for their email. This way you can use email marketing to get them back on track to purchase something from your store.
- The About Us page. Having a compelling about us page that tells potential customers all about your brand is key in making a good impression. But while they’re on your site reading about your brand, make sure you also include an email opt-in form to encourage customers to allow you to keep in touch about promotions and new products.
- Blog posts and pages. If your ecommerce website has a blog, then adding an opt-in on the main blog page and in blog posts is a great way to target those who have visited your website for information.
Email Templates You Can Use For Your Ecommerce Store
Once you have strategically placed opt-ins and you’re collecting email addresses for your ecommerce email marketing, it’s time to set up those emails. If you’re feeling stumped about the kinds of emails you can send for your ecommerce store, check out the list below for some inspriation.
Welcome Emails
One of the most important emails you will send out is your welcome email. This is one of the first interactions your ecommerce customers are going to get from you directly into your inbox, so it’s essential to get it right so you can set a good impression from the start. If you’re simply sending a confirmation of their subscription, you’re wasting an opportunity to connect with your subscribers.
In your welcome email, the goal is to show your subscribers what your business is about, get them excited about your brand, and inspire them to take action. In this email, you can also reward customers for signing up by providing them with an exclusive promo code for your store.
Loyalty Emails
Building up customer loyalty takes time and strategic planning. With loyalty emails, you can create targeted campaigns to nurture your relationship with email subscribers and increase customer loyalty.
This type of email has two goals: to keep your customers engaged and coming back for more and to increase customer lifetime value. If you can achieve these two goals with your loyalty emails, you’re on the right track with email marketing for ecommerce.
Your loyalty emails should make customers feel like they’re on an exclusive list or part of a VIP group. Providing early access to sales, special deals, sneak peeks at new products, and invitations to special events are all great ways to make your email subscribers feel special, increasing their loyalty to your brand.
Re-engagement emails
Keeping a clean email list full of subscribers who actually open your emails and engages with them ensures a healthy email list. Once you have done email marketing for ecommerce for a while, you’ll notice that there are a lot of subscribers who aren’t engaged with your emails anymore. Maybe they haven’t clicked on an email or visited your store in months, and they definitely haven’t made a purchase in quite a while. While these “cold subscribers” can be hard to bring back, it’s important to remember that they did sign up at one point and were engaged with your brand, so sending out re-engagement emails before writing them off is always a good plan.
For re-engagement emails, you’ll want to put some effort into capturing their attention to get them to open your email. It starts with a good, compelling subject line, and then once you get them to open the email, you can offer a coupon or discount code as an incentive for them to come back and shop at your ecommerce store. Ensuring that this email makes your customer feel special and giving them some sort of benefit can often revive a stale subscriber on your list.
Anniversary emails
Want to make your customers feel special? With anniversary or birthday emails, you can do just that! Anniversary emails can be sent to customers on the anniversary of their first purchase from your store or on the date they subscribed to your email list. You can use these emails to give them a special discount, reward, or special offer to help build trust and loyalty and encourage them to purchase from your store.
For this type of email, you will need to utilize your ecommerce email marketing provider to either keep track of the date they made a purchase or signed up. Or if you want to send out a special birthday promo code, you will need to set up your opt-in form to ask for your subscriber’s birthday when they sign up. Adding a fun message like “Enter your email so we can send you a gift on your birthday!” will let them know why you’re asking for that information and encourage them to fill it out to see what kind of “gift” they get.
When you provide these types of incentives based on your customer’s interactions with your company, it encourages them to engage and improves their experience with your brand.
Promotional emails
One of the most popular types of emails in email marketing for ecommerce is promotional emails. Your inbox is probably full of promotional emails from companies trying to earn your business, so these are easier to understand.
Because ecommerce stores rely on sales to stay in business, promotional emails are vital for driving traffic to your store and making money. These promo emails can be a great way to remind your customers about your store, increase your average order value, boost revenue during slow times, or clear out old inventory to make room for new products.
However, it’s essential to be strategic about these types of emails because people receive so many of them each day. Think about the promotional emails you get daily and which ones stand out to you. With compelling subject lines that catch your customer’s eye and promotions people can get excited about, you’ll have a better chance of turning an opened email into a sale.
Post-purchase emails
After your customer makes a purchase on your website, don’t make the mistake of forgetting about them! Sending post-purchase emails is a great way to follow up with your customers and ensure they had a good experience with your ecommerce store. Remember: investing in a new customer requires more money and effort than retaining a customer. So make sure you set up post-purchase emails in your ecommerce email marketing strategy.
Post-purchase emails nurture your new customer, increases customer loyalty, and encourages them to shop with you again in the future. In these emails, you can thank them for their purchase, gain valuable feedback about their experience with your company, and even promote additional products or provide a promo code for their next purchase to encourage them to buy again soon.
Review request emails
There’s no doubt that reading reviews from other customers establishes more trust and credibility than even the most convincing sales copy. Think about when you make a purchase. If there are reviews available, do you take a moment to look them over before buying?
A good review can encourage you to buy an item you’re on the fence about, so having reviews on the products in your store can be extremely beneficial in converting browsers into paying customers. In fact, about 95% of customers read reviews before making a purchase, so making sure you have reviews available will likely increase your chances of making a sale.
When you send out review request emails, you encourage customers to provide their feedback about your product or their experience. In addition, you’re letting those customers know that your brand is interested in their opinions which can go a long way in establishing a relationship with your customers.
Cart abandonment emails
Did you know the average cart abandonment rate is just under 70%? That means almost 70% of people who take the time to browse your store and add items to their cart leave without making a purchase. With cart abandonment emails, you can recover some of those lost sales and boost your ecommerce business.
Cart abandonment emails are sent to customers who have added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase. These emails usually contain the items left in the customer’s cart along with a promotional offer or incentive to encourage them to come back and complete their order.
Price drop emails
It’s no surprise that most shoppers are influenced by pricing when considering if they should make a purchase. Because of this, price drop emails can be a great way to get customers back into your store to buy an item they were interested in.
Price drop emails notify your subscribers when the price of an item they’re interested in has dropped. This type of email is usually sent to people who have either browsed your store or added items to their cart but didn’t make a purchase. Luckily, these emails are pretty simple because all you’re doing is letting interested customers know that an item they were looking at has dropped in price. Most ecommerce email marketing providers can integrate with your ecommerce software to automatically send these types of emails out.
Back in stock emails
If you have products that go out of stock occasionally, make sure you have a place for customers to sign up for a “back in stock” notification. This lets interested customers know that when the item is in stock they will be notified, so they aren’t encouraged to go find the same product from a competitor.
When an item is out of stock, it can be frustrating for customers, but it can also show customers that the products in your store are in high demand. Once the product is back in stock, your ecommerce email marketing software will automatically email any interested customers, letting them know so they can complete their purchase.
Best Ecommerce Email Marketing Software
Choosing the best ecommerce email marketing software can be difficult because there are so many options available and they all have different features, price points, and reputations. As promised, we’ve provided a short list of the best ecommerce email marketing software so that you don’t have to spend too much time researching and can instead get started with your own email marketing strategy.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo is an ecommerce email marketing platform designed specifically for ecommerce businesses. They have built-in integrations with the most popular ecommerce platforms so that you can start sending targeted emails as soon as possible. With Klaviyo, you can sync your data, view reports, and take advantage of their segmentation by sending emails based on your customer’s shopping behavior.
With the provided email and SMS templates, you can automate personalized communication like price drop alerts, cart reminders, and recommendations. You can also use the data Klaviyo syncs from your store for targeted Facebook and Instagram marketing campaigns.
Pricing: Klaviyo offers a free plan for up to 250 contacts and 500 sends. Their paid plans start at $20/month for up to 500 contacts and up to 10,000 email sends per month.
Mailchimp
One of the most well-known email marketing providers out there is MailChimp. Not only have they been around for a long time, but they’re also one of the easiest platforms to use, making it great for beginners in email marketing. MailChimp has a wide range of integrations, which makes them ideal for ecommerce businesses, and their automation features are some of the best in the business.
Their ecommerce automations make it easy to send targeted emails to your customers based on their purchase behavior. Some of the best features that are beneficial for email marketing for ecommerce are segmentation, behavioral targeting, CRM, customer journey, marketing automation, transactional and trigger-based emails, robust reports, split A/B testing, customer surveys, and recommendations.
As a bonus, they have a wide range of email templates that you can use so that you don’t have to start from scratch every time you want to send an email.
Pricing: Mailchimp offers a free plan for up to 10,000 sends per month. Their paid plans start at $11/month and go up from there based on your needs.
Sendinblue
Providing an all-in-one marketing platform, Sendinblue prides itself on helping small businesses grow. With features like email and SMS marketing, CRM, automation, segmentation, and Facebook ads retargeting, Sendinblue wants to ensure you have all the tools you need to succeed.
What separates Sendinblue from other email marketing software for ecommerce is that they do not charge based on the number of contacts in your list. Instead, they charge based on the number of emails you send per month. This makes them a great option for businesses that are just starting out with ecommerce email marketing and don’t have a large list of contacts.
Pricing: Sendinblue offers a free plan for up to 300 emails per day with unlimited contacts. Their paid plans start at $25/month and go up based on your monthly email volume and additional features.
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