#18 - The Five Essential Emails for Successful eCommerce Email Marketing

Welcome my fellow eCommerce Entrepreneurs! My name is Matt Edmundson and this show is for those of us Kurious About eCommerce and who want to know how to get better at digital business.

Despite popular belief, email marketing is still the best and most effective marketing channel across all industries. It has the ability to reach out to an audience that is already engaged and it gives businesses a much higher return on investment than any other digital channels. According to an eMarketer study, the median marketing ROI is 122% - four times higher than any other digital marketing channel.

 

Email marketing has evolved from just email blasts to delivering targeted and personalised emails. Targeted emails offer a much higher ROI but in this age of the GDPR businesses have to be strategic in order to maximize return. Since the GDPR came into force last May, millions of euros have been issued in fines to businesses across the EU for GDPR breaches. It's super important to give your recipients the option to manage the type of content they receive from you.

 

The five ways different types of emails that we use in our email marketing campaigns:

 

#1 Segment emails

 

Segment your customers and send them only relevant content and promotional offers. To stay on top of your game you have to be continually working to understand the customer so that you can send them relevant content that they can engage with. 

 

The format of your these emails also matter.

• Create a catchy subject line that will immediately catch the attention of the customer and resonate with them. 
• Use the recipient's first name - people like hearing their name and they'll want to know what you have to say to them.
• Be personable and empathetic to create a sense of camaraderie. Your customers want to know they are being  understood and that you genuinely care. 

The ultimate purpose is to get customers to click on the link and make a transaction on the website. 

#2 Sequence emails

 

Sequence emails are sent to one email per person that is triggered by a behavior or an action by that person. 

 

Classic example of this is the abandoned cart. You can sequence multiple emails and send them over several days to help the customer come back to complete the purchase. This is helpful for gradually building trust with your customers. 

 

Sequence emails also work well with on-ramp and new customers. Aim to nurture your customer relationships and help them to buy into your values and your culture. 

 

Sequence emails are very targeted and are sent one email to one person based on their buying or browsing behavior. 

 

#3 Transaction emails

 

Transactional emails are triggered by a specific behavior on your website  - a customer buying a product from you. These are a series of emails that the customer is looking out for and waiting to receive. 

 

The customers are waiting for the order confirmation email. They want to read the email that tells them their order is on the way and that the order has been delivered. An additional email you can and should send is to ask for feedback or review of the product they've purchased.

 

You know then these are emails that will be opened and read by the customer. And this is why these transactional emails are a great opportunity for some well thought out up-selling and cross-selling. The customer already has a level of trust because they have just bought from you so they are far more likely to click through to your site.

 

 

#4 Customer service emails

 

Customer service emails are really important because they help retain your customers and build a loyal customer base.

 

These are emails that your customers will be waiting to receive because they want you to answer one or more of their questions. This is high value real estate space! 

 

Happy customers become loyal customers who will evangelize your brand and bring you new customers.

 

#5 Footer emails

 

These emails aren't going to be super fruitful but they are well worth taking advantage of. 

 

Instead of simply having a signature at the bottom of your work emails, put a banner advert under the signature or a link to a best selling product on your site.

 

Change this on a regular basis to keep it fresh and relevant. 

 

 

Think about these five types of emails and plan your strategy. Drop me a line and let me know how you are getting on. I will definitely subscribe to your emails and maybe even give you feedback on what I think you could do to improve it. 

 

If you have any questions or thoughts, we'd love to hear them! 

 

 

Links

• Matt Edmundson
• Collab Project
• Kurious Digital
• Get Coached on the podcast