How to Pump Up Your E-Commerce Email Marketing Strategy

In the past few years, the availability of massive personalization tools and A/B testing methods have empowered email marketing as one of the massive drivers of traffic for e-commerce websites. In this guide, I will tell you 5 e-commerce email marketing hacks you can put in place very quickly.

1- Gather Product Reviews Via Emails

An Argos sponsored research found that products with reviews enjoyed 10% more conversion rates than those without. The implications are clear – get more product reviews from existing customers, and drive more sales for the reviewed products.

However, getting your product reviewed is easier said than done, even if the customer experience is great. This is where bundling in an incentive into a highly personalized and well-timed review request email does the trick for most marketers.

For instance, check out this perfect review seeking email from a brand called Boden.

Here’s what it gets right:

• Branded and well-personalized message written in a humane tone
• Easy and expressive links to take the reader directly to the product review page
• An incentive for the time taken by the reader to review (a chance to win $200)

Email marketing tools help you automate the delivery of such emails, along with periodic reminders, as per a fixed schedule (ideally, a few days after the product is delivered).

2- Write Click-Worthy Email Subject Lines

If you don’t believe in the power of powerful email subject lines yet, note that during Barack Obama’s election campaign, an email subject line generated $400,000 in donations, and a variation of the same generated $250,000! An estimated 64% of people open emails because of their subject lines.

Click-bait tactics can get your email a view but are not good for conversions. Instead, make your email subject line a distilled, exciting, expressive, and informative version of your email text. If you’re offering an exclusive and limited duration 25% off coupon, say so.

Here are some suggestions to help you improve subject lines:

• Ask a question, and provide an answer in the email.
• Use words that excite, such as ‘secret’, ‘hacks’, ‘surprising’, ‘right now’, etc.
• Make it short
• Use numbers
• Offer value
• Localize and personalize to the maximum extent
• Nobody likes emails from a stranger and even less if it’s a robot. Instead of sending it from an email address such as [email protected], use an email address such as [email protected].
• Tip: Use online blog heading analysis and writing tools to create crafty email subject lines.

The more targeted your email marketing becomes, the better your control over email subject lines becomes. So, understand target audience personas before crafting the subject line.

3- Single, Focused, and Desirable CTA

The cardinal sin of e-commerce emails – too many calls for actions. Instead, use one CTA and increase the likelihood of click-throughs. Focus every element of the email to the single CTA.  

• Your email copy must funnel the attention of the reader to the CTA. Use questions and emotionally loaded phrases to achieve this.
• Use CTA buttons instead of hyperlinked texts; buttons are more attractive and highly visible.
• Use colors and shapes to make your CTA buttons stand out in colorful and visually loaded emails.
• Talk to your web designer about buttons that change color or shape when the mouse cursor hovers over them.

Here’s a terrific example of an email that gets everything right:

4- Make Images The Star of Your Emails

E-commerce emails without high-quality images of your products in action are pretty much a waste of time. Information retention from marketing emails can improve from 10% to 65% if you include high-quality images in your emails. You can make use of platforms like Burst to download free stock photos in amazing high quality.

Portraying your product in action helps readers envision themselves using the product, and can drive click-throughs. Any investment you have to make in getting high-quality product images for all your e-commerce marketing emails is worth the amount, so don’t delay and get this right.

5- Use Abandoned Cart Reminder Emails

Cart abandonment hurts your e-commerce revenues like nothing else and deserves all your attention. If you use an email marketing software, you can set a rule to send abandoned cart reminder emails to potential shoppers (for instance, users who click on Buy Now but don’t make it to the ‘payment successful’ page). For instance, check out how Flaviar does it, with this example cart abandonment reminder email.

Improve your e-commerce store’s revenues and bottom line with the e-commerce email marketing hacks discussed here. These hacks are quick, inexpensive, easy to execute, and will yield results pretty soon; so, give them a shot.