Email marketing is one of the best ways to generate sales for an online store. How can you maximize your return with every email you send?
Here are three things to avoid doing in your retail email campaigns…
Promote Products Without Linking to Them
Picture this scenario…You receive an email from one of your favorite retailers and it includes a beautiful photo of a bright blue pair of running shoes. You click the shop button in hopes it won’t cost you an arm and a leg and you come to a page with hundreds of other pairs of running shoes. The pair you were hoping to easily find is nowhere to be seen without spending some time filtering through products.
If you’re going to present a particular product in your email, make sure your customer can easily purchase it if they want to. Don’t dangle a carrot in from of someone only to pull it away later or make them work hard to get it.
Shopping shouldn’t be time consuming.
Curate your products and link directly to any products you’re promoting in your email campaigns.
Show Products You Don’t Have Available
Inventory is one of the most crucial aspects to email marketing as a retailer. Being able to predict how much to purchase for any given time of the year is something you learn to master over time.
With email it’s no different.
Promoting products you are worried will run out of stock probably isn’t the best idea. Nothing is more frustrating for a customer who wants to give you their hard earned money, than finding out they can’t have what you put in front of them.
If you are trying to sell out of a product make sure to include some of the following verbiage in your campaign:
- “While supplies last”
- “Only “x” more available”
- Inventory running low
Clearly communicate that the chances are slim it will be available.
Be upfront and honest with your customers and you’ll continue to be thought of in a positive light for years to come.
Pair Excluded Products with a Promotion
Another thing to avoid when sending an email campaign to your customer is to include excluded products in tandem with a special promotion. Reducing the amount of time your customer service team spends answering questions on promotions will improve your bottom line.
Run two separate campaigns if you want to promote regular priced items while running another promotion. Make sure you clearly state what items can and cannot be purchased with the discount code.
Another great way to reduce customer service inquiries is to create a landing page explaining the details of your promotion showing how to do the following:
- How, where and when to apply the discount code (include a screenshot)
- List any excluded brands or products
- List your start date and time and the end date and time, along with your time zone
- If the offer can be combined with other offers
- If the discount can be applied to past orders
Conclusion
To improve the success of your retail email campaign make sure you link to the products you promote, have plenty of inventory available and be upfront about any promotional exclusions. If you do, there is a good chance they’ll be purchasing from you for years to come.
Happy emailing!
