Table of Contents:
How do we define Email Marketing?
Exploring E-commerce Email Marketing Types:
Why Email Marketing Matters for Shopify Stores
How to Improve Your Shopify Email Marketing
On a global scale, Shopify holds the second spot in e-commerce platforms, trailing only WooCommerce. With a staggering 4 million online stores spanning various sectors, Shopify is the go-to "all-in-one" solution, fueling both renowned and lesser-known brands.
If your store lies within this vast ecosystem, this definitive Shopify email marketing guide is tailor-made for you. According to Shopify's statistics, email marketing emerges as the prime conversion driver (4.29%) for Shopify stores.
This figure surpasses direct marketing, search media marketing, social media marketing, SMS marketing, and pay-per-click advertising by a substantial margin. Therefore, harnessing the potential of email marketing becomes pivotal for Shopify stores. This blog explores the how-to, assisting you in making the most of your email marketing initiatives.
But let's create the foundation first before getting into the details.
How do we define Email Marketing?
E-commerce email marketing encompasses the practice of using email to send marketing messages to potential and existing customers, intending to sell, educate, or foster customer loyalty.
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Email serves as an "owned" digital marketing channel, granting the sender full control over content and distribution. Its potency is most pronounced when employed to deliver personalized, pertinent messages to segmented recipient lists.
In the realm of e-commerce, email holds particular significance. It serves as a conduit for transmitting transactional, promotional, and lifecycle messages. In the context of mobile devices, email proves invaluable for connecting with audiences and maximizing marketing endeavors.
Exploring E-commerce Email Marketing Types:
Discover the three fundamental types of email marketing strategies embraced by e-commerce merchants:
1. Transactional Emails
Transactional emails, dispatched during checkout and other purchase-related actions, serve a functional purpose by conveying essential information to individual customers. These emails enjoy an impressive open rate of around 60%, surpassing the average of 37.65%. The reason? They're not merely anticipated, but actively sought by customers.
Order Confirmation and Email Receipts
Leverage email order confirmations to extend customer engagement beyond the initial sale. Ensure receipts address basic queries, such as delivery timing, shipping address, and contact information, before considering additional elements. For repeat buyers, explore opportunities like suggesting related products or offering add-ons before shipping.
For instance, Crate & Barrel sends order confirmation emails before shipping, encouraging customers to enhance their orders.
Enhancing Order Confirmation Emails
- Upsell by suggesting accessories or offering gift options for friends.
- Introduce limited-time future purchase discounts or free shipping.
- Encourage customers to join your community, particularly if your business values align with theirs.
Shipping Confirmation Email
Shipping confirmations are sent once packages are dispatched, capitalizing on customer excitement. However, this channel is underutilized for fostering creativity and customer delight.
Forge innovative strategies to boost customer engagement and deepen their bond with your brand. For instance, Tradesy promotes its referral program through shipping confirmation emails.
Enhancing Shipping Confirmation Emails
- Facilitate order tracking with delivery dates and tracking numbers.
- Encourage referrals by allowing customers to share product links.
- Offering product suggestions based on the customer's purchase.
Check-In Email
Neglecting customer feedback can prove detrimental. Soliciting feedback can be as straightforward as sending a survey or a single question about the shopping experience. These requests are typically sent after customers have received and used the ordered product.
In your post-purchase emails, direct customers to a third-party survey tool for feedback or embed the survey in the email itself. A common approach is to employ a rating system (e.g., "Rate your experience").
For instance, Dairy Queen sends a check-in email to gather feedback.
Enhancing Customer Feedback Emails
- Prioritize customer satisfaction insights over sales figures.
- Incorporate review/survey forms on your website to showcase related offers.
- Follow up with dissatisfied customers to address their concerns.
Thank You Email
Thank you Emails are potent tools for nurturing customer loyalty. They keep your company visible in customers' inboxes and provide another avenue to increase click-through rates through coupons and online store links.
According to HubSpot, thank you emails boast double the engagement of regular marketing emails, with a 42% open rate and a 14% click-through rate. In comparison, general marketing emails yield a 12% open rate and a 6% click-through rate.
Craft concise text-based emails or utilize automated templates. Companies like Bee Free offer diverse email templates and services to suit your business needs.
Optimizing Thank You Emails
- Keep the message succinct, including a clear call to action.
- Employ dynamic CTAs that adapt to recipients' preferences.
- Foster social media sharing to amplify reach.
2. Promotional Emails:
These emails are the megaphone of your marketing strategy, sent either to your entire subscriber base or targeted segments. Broadcasting is ideal for diverse purposes: introducing a new product, sharing monthly newsletters, announcing time-sensitive promotions, unveiling seasonal deals, or updating content.
New Product Unveilings:
Launch new products based on customer feedback. Prioritize subscribers who match the product's profile, granting them priority access.
Time-Sensitive Temptations:
Craft promotions that resonate with customer interests, offering discounts on products closely aligned with their recent purchases. Prioritize clear communication over elaborate copy.
Subscriber-Exclusive Bonuses:
Elevate motivation by providing exclusive discounts in regular newsletters or drip campaigns. Tap into the power of exclusivity and foster emotional connections.
Seasonal Allure:
Capitalize on holidays and seasons by alerting subscribers to special offers. Promote Black Friday, after-Christmas, or spring clearance sales, and remind them of upcoming holidays.
Captivating Newsletters:
Share brand stories and educational content in regular newsletters, fostering deeper connections without relying solely on discounts.
Incorporate engaging anecdotes, like customer transformations or your brand's origin, into your newsletters.
Strategic Content Updates:
If content marketing is part of your strategy, feature it in newsletters or use RSS to automate content delivery. Highlight content that contextualizes new or updated products.
Elevate with Upsell Emails:
Upsell emails trigger when a customer adds an item to their cart. Encourage customers to explore premium versions for higher sales and average order value.
Suggestive Cross-Sells:
Craft cross-sell emails based on customer actions and profile data sent a few days after initial interactions. List showcases customer-preferred brands, enticing further exploration.
By mastering the art of promotional emails, you'll wield a potent tool to captivate customers and amplify your brand's impact
- Lifecycle Emails:
Prepare to be amazed by the captivating world of lifecycle emails—a personal touch that targets specific subscriber segments based on their actions. Often referred to as "triggered" emails, these messages are sent in response to a shopper's behavior and their stage in the customer journey.
Shopping Cart Rescues
Ever wondered about those abandoned carts? With an average rate of 70% abandonment, you have a golden chance to reclaim some of that unrealized revenue.
Abandoned cart emails are like an e-commerce quick-win, salvaging 5% to 11% of lost sales. Sweeten the deal with incentives for completing the purchase, though tread carefully to avoid coaching shoppers to wait for discounts. Compelling, benefit-driven language can rekindle their interest.
Enriching Welcome Series
Welcome emails are the warm embrace of e-commerce. With open rates averaging 90.09% and CTRs at 27.06%, they are true engagement powerhouses. Automated first-purchase email sequences typically yield three to six times more sales compared to regular promotions.
Follow Fulton's lead—welcome your subscribers with a 10% discount code, free shipping, and free returns. The immediate impact of this triggered email after sign-up is a recipe for success.
Second Purchase Prompt
Craving that elusive second purchase? Imagine that you're selling video games. A week after buying a console, 20% buy a second controller, while 50% remain dormant.
Enter the second order email campaign: a targeted email highlighting complementary products a week after the console purchase. Analyze your data to identify such opportunities and craft strategic campaigns to transform shoppers into loyal repeat customers.
Winning Back Lost Souls
Lapsed customers meet the win-back email campaign. It's designed to rekindle dormant purchasing behavior. If a healthy customer isn't seen in 45 days, it's time to re-engage.
Outdoor Voices entices inactive subscribers with a $20 offer for purchases over $100. The right incentive can breathe life into previously dormant relationships.
Referral Revolution
Spread the brand love with referral emails, leveraging the trust factor of recommendations. Customers value referrals from acquaintances over online reviews and ads, making this a powerful strategy.
MeUndies nails it by offering a 20% referral coupon to the referred while rewarding referrers with $20 for each successful sale.
Survey for Success
Your customer's voice is your guiding light. Survey emails provide crucial insights for enhancing your business. You can gauge interest in new products, understand preferences, and even analyze your competition.
Handy keeps it simple—a one-question poll—to discern cleaning service preferences, using the feedback to tailor promotions and offerings.
Embrace the art of lifecycle emails, and let your personalized messages work their magic, transforming customer interactions into long-lasting relationships.
Why Email Marketing Matters for Shopify Stores
Wondering why email marketing is a big deal for Shopify stores? Let's break it down in simple terms:
Affordable and Friendly
Email marketing won't hurt your wallet. You can find budget-friendly tools that still do a great job.
Feels Personal
Emails are a way of expressing, "Hey, I remember you!" It's a tactic to make your clients feel valued.
zero middlemen
You can speak with your clients directly. Consider it as a direct route to their attention.
Learn and Develop
Emails contain sophisticated tools. What works and what doesn't can be seen. As a result, you gradually improve.
For Shopify, email marketing is similar to communicating with friends. It only needs to be sincere and useful; it doesn't need to be flashy.
How to Improve Your Shopify Email Marketing
There are several tactics you can employ to make your Shopify email marketing effective, if you want it to be. Let's examine each of these approaches in more detail:
- Writing emails that are mobile-friendly
Many individuals open emails on their phones these days. In actuality, between 26 and 78% of emails are opened on mobile. Make sure your Shopify marketing emails look great on mobile because about 79% of Shopify's traffic comes from mobile devices.
Ensure that a phone can read and use your emails. You shouldn't need to zoom in and out for anyone to understand what you're saying. Depending on the size of the screen being used to view it, the style of your email should adjust itself automatically. Use an email design layout that allows for the proper display of tables and graphics.
- Boost Email Deliveries
Did you know that over 50% of emails sent worldwide get into spam folders? Yikes! There are numerous things you can do to correct this, though:
- Send marketing emails only to those who request them.
- Make sure the recipient of your emails will find your communications useful.
- Allow subscribers to specify the type of emails they desire as well as how frequently.
- Eliminate those who never read your emails. Additionally, make it simple for consumers to unsubscribe from your emails.
- Getting More People to Open Your Emails
Sometimes, people don't open your emails because they don't like the sender's name, subject line, or preview text. A cool trick to fix this is A/B testing. That's where you send different versions of the same email to different groups of people to see which one works better.
And that preview text? Make it like a little sneak peek that gives a hint about what's inside the email. Watching how many people open your emails will show you what's working and what's not. Then you can make your future emails even better.
- Making Your Emails Personal
When you personalize your emails, it's not just about saying someone's name. You can do more than that:
- Divide your subscribers into groups based on where they live, what they've bought, or how they use your website.
- Use your email tool to send emails when someone does something specific, like signing up or leaving a review.
- Send good wishes on special days, like birthdays or anniversaries.
- And make your email content friendly and not too formal.
- Sending Relevant Stuff
Don't just send emails for the sake of it. Make sure whatever you're sending fits the person getting it. Before you hit that send button, check that your email makes sense to the person reading it. Use groups to help with this. Also, try using different content for different people based on what they like.
- Getting People to Click
You can tell how well your Shopify email marketing is doing by looking at click-through rates. These show how many people are interested enough to click on stuff in your emails. To get more clicks:
- Show numbers and facts in your email to make it trustworthy.
- Use pictures that match your message.
- Don't hide important information inside pictures, because some people might not see them.
- Keep your emails short, or break them into sections with clear headings.
Have a clear and interesting Call-to-Action (CTA) in your email. This is the part that makes people take action, like "Buy Now" or "Learn More."
- Picking the Right Email Template
When you're making emails, you can choose from lots of cool designs. But make sure the one you pick fits what you're saying and who you're sending it to. For each new email campaign, use a different design to keep things fresh.
Match the colors in the template with your brand's colors. Simple and easy-to-read designs work best.
- Staying Consistent
Just like in any other kind of marketing, being consistent is key. Stick to a schedule when you send Shopify email marketing. Let your subscribers know how often they'll hear from you when they sign up. Also, use the same style and tone in your emails. Be real and use an authentic voice. If you're ever unsure, you can use a style guide to keep things on track.
- Timing Your Emails Right
The timing of your emails matters. Thursdays between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. are a good time to send them. Avoid Wednesdays and Tuesdays between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. The best times can also depend on whether people are using their phones or computers. Evenings might work well for young people who like technology.
So, by following these steps, you'll make your Shopify email marketing effective and get awesome results!
Bottom Line
In conclusion, when done correctly, Shopify email marketing can lead to impressive results. We've explored the most powerful methods to help you achieve success. So, be sure to apply this valuable knowledge to your upcoming email marketing efforts. We wish you the best of luck!
If you're looking to run an email marketing campaign for your Shopify store, be sure to give NotifyVisitors email marketing software a try. Their free plan is tailored specifically for Shopify stores.
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