Email has been around for 20 or so years.
It’s one of the old dogs in the Internet world, but email remains one of the most important forms of communication today.
In fact, it might be one of the main ways we communicate today. And not just online communication, but a main way for all communication.
I’m just one example, but I got the monthly stats from Google and I sent and received over 1,500 emails just last month.
And I don’t really subscribe to many email newsletters and promotional emails. I do subscribe to some, but I look to pare them back from time to time.
There are two things for ecommerce companies to consider:
First, email is still as important. Yes, social media is kind of the exciting new kid on the block in the Internet world, but email marketing is still very effective.
Second, email is getting more challenging because people are using it for so much of their regular communication. There are a number like me that have to pare back at times and even if others do not pare back they have to delete many messages or simply ignore them all together.
With that in mind, here are some steps for improving your ecommerce email program.
Step 1. Get More Resources
This is the number one thing I see especially with ecommerce companies.
And I don’t mean money although that does come into play I guess.
But the real issue is not having enough human resources invested in the success of the email program. The program can kind of be turned over to software, maybe one designer and maybe one person in charge of dealing with the vendor and things like that.
That’s the team for entire ecommerce companies, which seems kind of crazy when you think about it.
Assess your current situation and see if your email team is currently working with too much on their plate. Chances are the strategy could be evaluated and prioritized. And if you find that you need more resources to accomplish the high priority items then you’ll have to hire internally or bring on help from the outside like an email marketing firm.
Step 2. Test Into A Higher Frequency
Most ecommerce companies could test into sending more emails. Unless you’re sending out emails every day you could probably at least do some testing to see if you can send more often.
Weekly is common for ecommerce companies. Monthly seems to be just as common and perhaps even more common.
I think this goes back to the resource issue. If you don’t have enough people on the team it will be impossible to keep up with more frequency.
But I think it also stems from the fear that you’ll be spamming your customers and subscribers. And that could be true, but you won’t know until you can test more.
And the trade-off is that you’ll make more money by sending more emails.
Again, you’ll want to test to find the balance of making more money and losing subscribers. So keep track of those two things both in the short-term and long-term.
It’s also important to track the long-term emails sales as you increase frequency. You want to ensure that sales are just shifting from future sales to current sales with the more emails you send.
Buy over a year you can assess if by sending more emails you made more money.
Step 3. Get More Top-Of-Funnel Subscribers
We mentioned in a previous post the importance of top-of-funnel marketing. Your target customers are, at most, thinking about buying what you sell 3% of the time.
But you can still market to them the other 97% of the time.
You can still keep up with your current sales and promotions emails. And you can get subscribers that want to see your latest products and promotions.
But also focus on attracting new target customers by focusing on top-of-funnel offerings. These usually include content that helps your target customers as it relates to their lives and to the general industry you’re in.
An easy example would be a fashion company creating monthly fashion guides. They might include mentions of specific products that you sell, but the major focus would be on fashion trends. Do this every month and promote it on your site, on social media and even with ads.
Signup and see what this month’s hottest fashion trends!
The subscribers might not purchase right away, but they’re your target customers and you can earn their trust so when they are ready to buy they will select you to purchase from.
Step 4. Create A List Of Buying Triggers
There are a number of things that give people a reason to buy:
- Basic Need
- Replacement
- Convenience
- Ego
- Security
- Holidays
- Events
- Emotions
- Etc.
There are tons more, but that’s a good starting list. When you know the reasons people buy you can use that in your marketing to help trigger their impulse to make a purchase.
List all the events you can use for your marketing including holidays and other important events in life. Tap into all those throughout the year as well as focusing the design and copy on the triggers and your email should see an increase in conversion.
Step 5. Plan More, Adjust Less
Many email programs are kind of done on the fly. This is true sometimes even at very large ecommerce companies.
That can work sometimes, but usually dollars are left on the table.
The better approach is to focus on the long-term. This involves having an email calendar where all those invested in the email program get together and fill it out. You look at past results. You anticipate what’s coming in the future and create a long-term plan.
You can still make adjustments as you go. Things like inventory issues can arise, which can force you to make a change, but it’s still best to do more long-term planning while limiting the adjustments. You have to believe in the plan you create and stick with it even during periods of short-term struggle.
Conclusion
Email remains one of the most important marketing and sales channels for ecommerce companies. People seemingly use email more than ever before. That’s the case even as we use other forms of communication like text and social media more.
Look at the steps above and take them if you want to improve your ecommerce email program. You might have a few of the items in place already, but start with the big ones, which come first and once you take care of those you can really start making changes.
