Using email marketing to boost Ecommerce sales

Techniques for retailers reviewing their email marketing communications

Whether it's online sales for mulitchannel retailers, etailers, big chains or independent stores,  everyone knows the power of using email marketing to prospects and customers to boost profits. Used in conjunction with a sophisticated automated email marketing strategy, and email marketing can work even better for you. In this post I hope to give you some ideas to take your email marketing to the next level through email automation, particularly if you just have a basic enewsletter programme in place.

How to boost your e-commerce through email automation

Email automation tools gives many options to create more targeted, relevant messages as customers interact with a retailer.

• Split the difference - testing
  Do you prefer to read your emails over your cornflakes or just before you go home? Do clever subject lines draw you in or do you prefer something a bit simpler? Not everyone has the same preferences when it comes to checking their email. Split-testing your messages can help you find out what can improve your response from different audiences.
• Best time to send
  Not everyone reads their emails at the same time. So what is the best time to send your email campaigns? Through email automation you can send the same messages at different times of day to see which gets the best response.
• Subject A/Subject B
  Some people like their subjects to ask a question. Others have their interest piqued by buzzwords, while some people like a plain old does what it says on the tin subject. Split your emails into different subject lines to see which get the best open rates.
• Calls to action
  People respond differently to calls to action. Mix it up, offer different people different calls then analyse the data. That way you’ll find out what works best for your customers.

Don’t leave me this way - abandoned shopping cart re-engagement

According to Seewhy Research, abandoned shopping cart emails generate more than 55% higher conversion compared to regular email campaigns. Giving your customers a little nudge in the direction of their full basket can increase incremental revenue from Ecommerce. Here are a few abandoned shopping cart email tips:

• Remind your customers that they’ve forgotten to finish their purchase. This can generate almost £10 extra per email (Conversion Academy research).
• Be timely and relevant.  Nobody wants ten aggressive emails telling you to finish what you started.
• Email almost immediately – 90% of leads go cold within the first hour (MIT Research). So be sure to follow-up on these leads almost immediately. After you have sent your first follow-up mail, target your customer in stages – 23 hours, 6 days.

Get the remarketing right, and you could generate huge amounts more revenue.

Never forget another anniversary - triggered emails

As well as reminding your customers that they’ve forgotten to purchase, you can send them other event triggered emails to keep them interested in your business.

• Anniversary campaigns. Customers might only need to buy something once a year from you. Make sure you keep their loyalty by reminding them to come back to you before their purchase anniversary date.
• Set up a stepped campaign, reminding customers at 3, 6 and 12 months to keep their loyalty. Try using incentives that appeal to your customers.

Winning them back

Sometimes you lose customers. No worries, this is inevitable and happens all the time. However, they don’t have to be gone forever.

Setting up win back campaigns after a period of inactivity can help you regain the customers you’ve lost.

• Treat your customers as special. Subject lines that imply exclusivity have a 24% higher open rate, while subjects that have an end date are opened 29% more than those that don’t.
• Be bold. If you really want people to come back then offer them great value they can’t turn down.

Everyone already knows the future potential for E-commerce. It's still in its infancy really with Ecommerce increasing by 10-20% year-on-year in major markets. Lower overheads, no geographical restrictions, wider customer base. Make your e-commerce even stronger by implementing the perfect automated email marketing strategy and you can help support this growth.

Thanks to Michael Linthorst for sharing his thoughts in this post. He is an internet entrepreneur and CEO of Copernica BV.  Copernica is powerful marketing software for email marketing, web pages, mobile and automated campaigns. More than 3.500 users successfully use Copernica Marketing Software on a daily basis.  Connect with Michael on LinkedIn or Twitter.