Create an email strategy for ecommerce
Create an email strategy for ecommerce
1. Create a prioritized list of goals with specific and achievable targets, and organize them by their importance to your business.
Common goals include: Increase brand visibility Drive sales and revenue Increase website traffic Increase brand loyalty Engage with new potential customers. For example, you may have just launched a website and would like to get more traffic to it, so you set a target of a number of visitors per week and prioritize it over increasing brand loyalty.
2. Analyze your own and competitors' current customers to identify your target audience and determine what common traits they share.
Look for traits like age, gender, location, education, and shopping habits.
3. Use your customers' data to create actionable insights about the benefits you should highlight and the most effective ways to build your mailing list.
Common channels are social media, onsite pop-ups and PPC advertising. For example, if your customers are 18-25 year old females in tertiary education, you know they are most likely price-sensitive and active on social media. So, you would highlight pricing in your messaging and focus list-building efforts on social media platforms.
4. Develop an offer or lead magnet to drive signups.
For example, you can offer a 10% discount when a person subscribes.
5. Segment your list based on buyer personas, and develop tailored messaging and offers for each segment based on relevant benefit or product.
Examples of segments include: Location Past buyer behavior Gender Life-cycle stage Interests Engagement Age Targeted campaigns and offers could include demographic-specific events like Father’s Day.
6. Create a calendar with upcoming sale events, holidays and information on who you are targeting, frequency of communications, and what type of content or offer - discount, new product, or update.
For example, ecommerce email marketing calendars are based around sales events like Christmas, Black Friday, public holidays, and product launches. However, you can have weekly content (Newsletters) or sales-focused emails to drive revenue and traffic outside sales events. Most marketers send 2-5 emails per week to various segments.
7. Design your email templates based on your brand, your audience analysis and promotional needs.
You may need different templates for some segments. For example, men vs, women. You can use a master template and change the content and offers for each segment. Research your competitors or find a brand you like and base your design on theirs. Consider using one of your email marketing platform pre-built templates as a guide and adjusting as your brand and needs require.
8. Use triggered email marketing automation flows like cart abandonment, welcome series, re-engagement, browser abandonment and cross-sell or upsell.
Ask yourself: Will this help your subscribers? Are you providing valuable information or offers they want? For ideas, check the automation or flow section of your email marketing platform and look at the flows that competitors have implemented.
9. Monitor email performance by tracking open rate, click-through rate, revenue, unsubscribe rate and bounce rate.
Use insights from this tracking to adjust your email marketing strategy for better outcomes. For example, if you have a high unsubscribe rate – anything over 0.3% – you can adjust the frequency of your emails or segment further to provide more relevant content and offers.