Email Marketing Automation that Every Ecommerce Business Needs

Email marketing is still one of the top performing marketing channels for businesses of all kinds. But for ecommerce brands in particular, effective email marketing could be the different between sales or no sales.

That's why all ecommerce businesses should incorporate a comprehensive email marketing strategy in their marketing plan. There are many different types of emails you can send potential and current customers, so I thought I'd break down the top ones that all ecommerce businesses should have. So without further ado...

Here is email marketing automation that every ecommerce business needs, starting with top of the funnel and moving down the funnel:

The Newsletter Signup Email Marketing Campaign

At the very top of the funnel, you have your newsletter subscribers. They can technically be people who fit into any stage of your marketing funnel, but the point here is to provide them with very top-level content. 

When someone signs up for your newsletter, at a minimum, you should send them a thank you email for subscribing and potentially give them a small taste of what they can expect from signing up to your newsletter. They've opted into your email marketing, so they want to hear from you. Use this to your advantage.

Instead of simply sending one thank you email, you could also set up a series of emails to warm them up to your content. 

The Abandoned Cart & Lead Nurturing Email Marketing Campaign

When someone has added something to their shopping cart on your website, they are interested in buying that item. If they abandon their cart, that means they weren't convinced to buy from you for some reason. This could be price, they could have found the same item from another ecommerce store, they changed their mind, or really any reason.

There is a huge opportunity here for you to set up email marketing automation to remind people about the item (or items) they left in their cart. Setting up an abandoned cart email can help you boost your order rate from new or existing customers.

There are a couple ways to maximize this functionality: 

• provide a discount to entice buyers to make a purchase
• set up a series of emails after the initial abandoned cart email to educate people about your brand and your products; in this, you can also provide a discount to entice buyers to purchase, and it doesn't necessarily have to be at the beginning of the campaign. You could save it for the end to see if after all other emails, if someone still hasn't purchased, will a discount be enough to convert them to make a purchase

The New Customer Welcome Email Marketing Campaign

Nurturing someone doesn't stop when they make a purchase from your online store. In fact, this may be even more important, because it's easier and less costly to keep a loyal customer than it is to gain a new customer. With that in mind...

If someone has purchased from you, that means they like and trust your brand. Now is the perfect opportunity to continue building that trust with a new customer welcome email series.

Here are some ideas to incorporate into your new customer welcome series: 

• send a personalized thank you message -- be human, and remind them that there's a human behind the brand
• after a bit of time, once they've been delivered the product and have had time to use it, ask for a review
• ask your new customer to share their new product on social and tag you in any posts -- let them know you want to see how happy the product makes them 

The Unengaged Customer Win-back Email Marketing Campaign

Oftentimes people will make one purchase from you and then go stale. One of your goals should be to create loyal customers who want to make repeat purchases from your brand. That's where the unengaged customer win-back email marketing campaign comes in.

It's up to you to determine what amount of time without a purchase you consider as the threshold to be considered an unengaged customer, but I would recommend at least no new purchases for 90-180 days. The timing will also be dependent on what products you are selling and how often someone could or should make a purchase from you. You may have a product that warrants frequent repeat purchases, or you may have a product that warrant few or infrequent purchases.

Either way, you should have a campaign like this set up to remind customers why they should make a repeat purchase from you.

When you put these email marketing campaigns in place, your marketing does the work for you. You then can focus your efforts on generating new leads that will flow through this funnel and convert into customers. 

Ready to get your email marketing working for you? Need help from an expert email marketer to do it right? I'd be happy to help. Book your free consultation today!