How E-Commerce Websites Can Leverage Email Marketing for Huge Success
The age of the internet has resulted in many businesses taking to digital storefronts to sell their wares, and for good reason. Brands can reach countless people online, even if they also have a physical location. It’s good for business regardless, but online eCommerce comes with its own challenges.
Namely, the marketing. How can a business stand out and connect with customers? Is the secret social media? It helps, but it’s crowded. SEO? A good idea, but hard to reach top results. The answer lies in email marketing. Join us as we look at five distinct ways eCommerce can leverage the power of emails to find success.
5 Ways For eCommerce Websites to Leverage Email Marketing
Email marketing holds the power to truly skyrocket your business. With an average ROI of 3,800%, there’s no question that it’s worth the time and effort. While new technologies like social media and search engine optimization are also important, email has never wavered as one of our primary forms of digital communication.
Here are five exciting ways that eCommerce sites can take advantage of email marketing’s power:
1. Build Trust and Loyalty
The process of starting an email marketing machine involves one very key factor: an email list. Without contacts, you have nothing to go on and no one to send your emails to. The first question you should ask yourself is “how do I get people on my email list?”
Well, for starters, if you’re generating sales then you have contact information you can use. These buyers are great people to add to your list from the get-go. They won’t be surprised to get an email from you since they gave it to you when they made a purchase.
To continue building this list, you need to create opt-in forms that appear on your site. You have a few options for how you want to do this, but the key thing to remember is that they need to be simple and non-intrusive.
Subtle boxes on the side, information in the sidebar, and pop-ups are fine as users read your content or browse your site. You can also increase the effectiveness of these by using “lead magnets.” These magnets come in the form of free things like coupons, an ebook, or the promise of exclusive content.
All of this work that goes into building your list also builds trust and loyalty with your customers. If someone gives you their email, then it means you’ve captured their attention and they want to hear from you.
It opens a direct line of communication of which no other method of marketing can boast. Think about how powerful that can be for your business.
2. Earn More Reviews
Once you have a list, you can reach out to people who have purchased from you when it’s appropriate. One such example is when you’d like them to review their recent purchase. Earning more reviews for your business and your products is a great way to spread the word and increase your credibility.
The key to asking for reviews is to follow these guidelines:
- Ask within a reasonable amount of time (less than a week)
- Don’t spam your customers
- Provide an easy way to access your preferred review platforms (Yelp, Google, etc.)
- Send an email from real person’s address
- Make it a personal request specifically for them
- Make the links/call-to-action very clear and easy to spot
- Try different subject lines and email layouts
Reviews, both positive and negative, can be good for your business. Encouraging them through your emails is a great way to create a positive user experience. Companies like Shopper Approved can do this for you.
3. Integrate With Social Media
Email marketing undoubtedly performs better than social media. Regardless of which platform you choose for your website, and which social media pages you create, an email will always provide better reach (since you’re contacting customers directly). That being said, you can entwine the two for some epic results.
Here are some unique ways you can leverage your email marketing to work in tandem with your social media efforts:
- Add social sharing icons to your emails (and encourage users to share!)
- Create campaigns on social to promote your emails and vice versa
- Embed an opt-in form on Facebook
- Provide incentives for engaging with the social and email side of your marketing
When you see how one can promote the other, and how both can drive traffic to your site, it’s easy to see why email marketing can be combined with social media.
4. Emails Offer Personalized Marketing
Nothing is more targeted and personalized than an email. It goes straight to your customer and it can be molded in any way you see fit to better speak to them as a person. Things like addressing them by name, providing personalized recommendations, and so much more can be with an email.
An easy way to get started with personalization is to segment your email list. This involves slicing up and categorizing the list based on factors of your choosing. I usually recommend that you start by organizing your email subscribers based on whether they’ve purchased anything.
From here, you can narrow it down to people who bought something within the last 30-days, or repeat customers in general, and new prospects. You can also separate your leads you have yet to make a purchase and create separate emails for each of these categories.
Even something as simple as this can help you provide relevant content, recommendations, or information for your customers.
5. Automate Conversion Boosters
What if I told you that you can automate aspects of your email marketing that can boost your conversions? You don’t have to do anything but set it up, and it can be a huge boost for your business.
Interested? Many of today’s top email marketing tools will allow you to create automated responses to certain actions that customers take. One of these involves emailing them when they left an item in their cart.
Cart abandonment can result in a lot of money being left on the table. In some cases, the customer simply forgot, or they hit a bug. In either case, reaching out with an automated email like this can result in a sale.
Another popular kind of email is the one that thanks your customers for shopping with you. This is a small, but very valued gesture. It can be the bow on an experience the gives your customer a reason to come back.
Final Thoughts
eCommerce websites have a lot to gain from email marketing. Leveraging it in these unique ways can be a great way to boost your conversions and build trust for your brand. How do you leverage email marketing? Let us know in the comments!
Special thanks to guest writer Matt Banner, Founder of OnBlastBlog.com
As Seen on Forbes, Entrepreneur & The Huffington Post
