Ecommerce email marketing is one of the most underrated digital marketing channels. Till now, no one wants to talk about it. But iOS 14 updates crushed Facebook ads and third-party tracking system and Customer acquisition cost has increased.
Now, what eCommerce owners can do? How to increase return on investment? How to reduce overall CAC?
Question… Question… Question…
The answer is eCommerce email marketing. And we will see how to generate 30% revenue & how to achieve 10 ROI from eCommerce email marketing.
Before that let’s understand the fundamentals behind eCommerce email marketing.
What is eCommerce email marketing?
There are lots of blogs out that tell that email marketing for eCommerce is to generate revenue sales. But that is not the complete truth. You can send a promotional email and generate revenue from that. But don’t let eCommerce email marketing be limited. It can be used for lead nurturing, customer support, customer retention, etc.
Here, you want to generate 10x ROI with customer retention & repeat purchase. According to HubSpot,
Customer retention measures not only how successful a company is at acquiring new customers but also how successful they are at satisfying existing customers. It also increases ROI, boosts loyalty, and brings in new customers.
Let’s say if someone subscribes to the newsletter and you have set up lead nurturing flow/automation then that will build trust & brand reputation. And When they receive a sales email then there will be a higher chance to get a sale.
So, Just don’t take eCommerce email marketing for promotional or sale purposes. You want to build customer relationships.
Why eCommerce email marketing is important?
As you know, we can build customer relationship with it. But we can also use another digital marketing channel like Instagram & Facebook? Why should we use email marketing?
There are lots of reasons for that. And I am not telling you not to use another channel. But I am going to explain why you should not ignore the power of eCommerce email marketing.
After the iOS 14 update, the third-party app was unable to track customer activity. So, the only option is to use zero-party data and first-party data. What are these?
Simple, Zero-party data means email & phone number given by customer with consent. And First-party data that we can track on our property like the eCommerce store website. And email marketing is the best solution for this.
That is not the only reason. You can archive the highest return on investment. Here’s the example.
In Feb 2022, Revenue from Klaviyo is $1499 and that is more than 10x ROI with almost 45% repeat purchase. Cool right?
The most important thing is we don’t have huge CAC like Facebook ads. All the audience is already interested in our product we just need to nurture them.
Some statistics to prove eCommerce email marketing can scale your eCom store to the next level.
- 80% of retailers consider email marketing is a most effective for customer retention
- 59% of customers indicate that marketing emails have influenced their purchase decision
- 42% of Americans subscribe to marketing emails to receive discounts & offers.
Source: SendPluse
I hope you have understood why eCommerce email marketing is important. So, let’s dive into the strategy part How to generate 10x ROI & 30% revenue from eCommerce email marketing.
Step: 0 Analysis & Research
Before sending your first email, you want to analyze your existing efforts. If you are not achieving your target that means you are lacking something. Maybe strategy, Maybe Copy or design. It can be anything. So, you have to analyze your account.
And if you are a freelancer or agency then you can opt-in for Klaviyo Partner Program & generate a growth report. That will make analysis easy.
What do you have to analyze in it? There are a lot of eCommerce email marketing metrics like open rate, click rate, placed order rate, checkout started, viewed product, & much more.
For that, I will create an in-depth video/blog in near future.
As of now think like a customer, If you have received an email what will you do? Open it. That means checking the open rate. Is it acceptable? If not then improve your subject line & preview text.
Next, you will check the email content and click on the button. If the click rate is not good. That means you have to work on email copy, design & call to action.
And if the open rate & click rate is good but conversion is not good then you might need to improve your website/product page or landing page.
When you are working with any freelancer & agency make sure they are asking for Google Analytics & Google search console access.
And that is one of the secrets. I have worked with many clients and I always ask for additional tool access for research. And I am sure that 80% of freelancers are not able to do this part.
Yes. Research is equally important in email marketing as in SEO. That’s why I need access to the GA & GSC.
The research about why people are coming on store websites helps to convert them from visitors to subscribers and then subscriber to customer.
So, properly do your research & analysis.
Step 1: Catch the fish
*Pic from DotCom secret book by Russell Brunson
You are getting lots of visitors every day through SEO or SMM. Now, you want them to subscribe to a newsletter or email marketing. You have to provide some value in exchange for their email id & name.
In the case of eCommerce, the audience wants some type of discount. You can give them 10%, 20%, or FREE products on your first purchase.
In the end, I have attached a link for plug & play guide for Klaviyo email marketing. You just have to change a little bit according to your brand.
Step 2: Build a relationship with the subscriber
I was working with the client, I have observed that the existing welcome flow is not for building relationships with the customer. That is for converting subscribers into customers. That also works but the point is when you build relationships with customers, it will be easy to sell your different products in the future. Because they trust your brand.
So, Here’s the strategy where you can build customer relationships & convert them into a repeat customer.
When someone subscribes to your email newsletter,
Email #1: Send them to thank you note for subscribing to the newsletter with a discount code or Offer.
Email #2: Tell them who you are and what’s your brand stands for.
Email #3: Tell them how you have solved this particular problem and show them customer reviews & feedback.
Note: Don’t try to sell anything in this mail just build the relationship. You can remind them about the discount code/offer at the end of the email but again don’t force to them buy right now.
Now, what you have to do is, put conditional split & separate audiences who have bought products and haven’t bought products.
Who already bought products exclude them from the flow.
Email #4: In this email, you want to remind your audience to purchase the product using the discount code. You can create some urgency here, like the discount code will expire soon.
Email #5: This will be the last email of the welcome series. In this email, you have to show that audience has the last chance to use the discount or offer. You can create urgency like this. The last chance to use the discount code will expire in 24 hours.
You can also bundle free shipping in this email.
Step 3: Abandonment reminder flows
It might happen that people have viewed the product but because of some work or reason, they leave that behind.
Or it might also happen that people have started checkout but because of payment issues or other reasons, they didn’t complete the order.
So, it’s your responsibility to remind them & convert them into a customer.
A staggering average of 69% of online carts is being abandoned by the user
source: Moosend
Consider these abandoned cart statistics:
- 45% of all cart abandonment emails are opened
- 21% of all cart abandonment emails are clicked
- 50% of those clicks lead to a recovered purchase back on site
source: ActiveCampaign
Now, Let’s dive into the flow strategy.
Browse Abandonment Flow
When someone viewed a product but didn’t take any action. No added to cart or no checkout started. This flow help customer to remind their favorite product & make a purchase.
Email #1: Viewed product reminder. This email’s sole purpose is to just remind your customer about the product. Start with this… Hey, Did you see something?
Email #2: Build trust with them. You can use customer review in this mail. Also, you can give them some discount like 10% OFF.
Email #2 alternative: If ****you have a niche-specific store and you are trying to solve some problem with different products then you can craft this email in a such way that showcases all major features and benefits that fits your all products.
Email #3: Last chance to save 10% OFF. This email creates some type of urgency like the last 24 hours left.
Checkout Abandonment Flow
When someone has started checkout but didn’t place an order. This flow is almost similar to the browse abandonment flow. The main difference will email copy tone. This might be a hot lead so you can talk to them the indirect way.
Email #1: Cart reminder. In this email, you want to remind your customer about their cart. Just simple Hey, You have left something behind… Please complete your purchase.
Email #2: Show your payment options. These are hot leads and they might know about the product but there might be some payment issues. So, Give them different options like a Credit card, debit card, PayPal, Apple pay, GPay, etc. You can also showcase Buy now, Pay Later with Klarna, or AfterPay.
Also, Add some discount of 15% OFF.
Email #3: Last chance to save 15% OFF. This email creates some type of urgency like the last 24 hours left.
Tips:
- Every email should have a dynamic product block
- Be specific. Don’t try to sell a lot of products. [ You can show the recommended product in email #1]
Step 4: Post Purchase flows
When someone placed an order, we want to build customer loyalty. And this flow can help.
Email #1: Thank you for the purchase with order details
Email #2: Value-based email
Email #2 alternative: Cross-sell your products.
Email #3: Customer feedback
Step 5: Campaign/Email broadcast
You want to send at least one campaign to the targeted audience. Make sure, all the campaigns should not be only sales/promotions. You want to balance between sales & value-based campaigns.
Congratulation! You have unlocked 10x ROI. But wait this is not the end. You have to analyze everything in a specific time interval. This strategy is evergreen and works for almost every brand. But what is in the email might need some improvement in specific time duration.
But don’t worry. I am here for you. I will come up with the best strategies, tips, tricks, and POWERFUL SECRETS that no one will tell you. If you have any queries let me know in the comment section.
P.S. Do you want me to audit your Klaviyo account? Hit me with a mail at Jeel@jeelsblog.com
And I’ll help you out.