When it comes to building a business, one should use all legitimate ways, and email marketing is one such option. It’s a simple but effective way to bring new sales and attract potential customers by sending commercial letters to your target audience or current customers.
Email is an important marketing channel for e-commerce entrepreneurs. Do you know why? Here is some data for you on the matter.
- According to the Direct Marketing Association, every $1 spent on email marketing is multiplied by 40. Not bad, right? To tell the truth it is a phenomenal return on investment!
- The Direct Marketing Association also points out that 72% of people would rather get promotional materials via email than social media. Meanwhile, 38% of people admit receiving special offers is the main cause they subscribe to an email list.
- A McKinsey & Company study shows that email marketing is 40x more powerful than Twitter and Facebook when it comes to selling online. At the same time, the above-mentioned social platforms are excellent for engaging your community and for free content distribution.
- What is more, as reported by MarketingSherpa, a third of the website traffic consists of returning visitors. It runs for many e-commerce businesses.
- Also, the fact is that the majority of people who visit your online store are new visitors who will never visit it again. Of course, unless you do something to keep them coming back.
To put it another way, if your e-commerce business hasn’t utilized email marketing strategies, then you’re leaving money on the table.
So, keep reading this article to get to know the most useful email marketing tips and methods for the drop shipping industry.
Building an email list
Before we go further, you should learn that building an email list is the foundation of your email marketing strategy while running an independent web store. Along with the way you communicate with the customers on social media or in forums email marketing is the key to building a productive relationship.
The email list is the foundation of your strategy. Those VIP people from the list have either already spent money on your business, are interested in your product, or are very enthusiastic about your niche. They are privileged to get information about the most current updates and your company’s best offers directly from you. In your turn, you are providing valuable content and providing them with unique opportunities. In such a way, your email list and campaigns drive repeat traffic to your website.
However, what are the main instruments for collecting an email list?
Opt-in forms can be of great use when you require to grow your email list. The only question is where to place them. We don’t want to be too salesy and extreme with your calls to subscribe, but in fact, it’s not even possible. The site visitors usually don’t look at, literally, every inch of your website. So, there are some good places to consider if you want to collect a great email list. They are your site header or navigation bar, sidebar, about page, blog space, site footer, checkout page, pop-up forms, and offline opt-ins.
Why not use lead magnets if it’s fit? Offering discounts and exclusive offers are other great options. You should also consider creating sweepstakes, giveaways, or contests. This will accelerate the sign-up process.
Drive traffic to your e-commerce website and retain your clients through email!
Choosing the right email marketing tools
Picking the most suitable email marketing platforms is another crucial step. There are lots of awesome tools, like MailChimp and Hubspot, which help automate and optimize one’s email marketing.
If you succeed in finding a great tool it will be half the work. Everything will get much easier and quicker at once. Here is our list of great tools for drop shippers you should consider, 10 Best Email Marketing Tools choose what suits best your niche and requirements and take advantage of the platform!
Must do practices before starting an email marketing campaign
You would probably be wondering why many people receiving your email but not engaging then chances are it could require a new start. Here, you’ll find out why it’s so important to keep your list sparkling clean and exactly how to sanitize that list for the best results. TRY OUR EMAIL VALIDATOR– Clearalist to see how it works.
1. Abandoned Cart Emails
According to Baymard Institute’s research, about 70% of users abandon their carts before making their purchase.
Abandoned cart reminders are used on new and repeat users who have logged into your website, picked the goods, added them to the basket, and then disappeared. Why did they do that? They could have changed their minds or simply been interrupted and then just forgotten about their plans. You will never know if you don’t contact them.
70% of users abandon their cart before completing their purchase.
Do you know that abandoned cart emails can recover 15-50% of lost revenue? The BlueCore study revealed that cart abandoned emails have the highest average conversion rate (2.63%) and click-to-conversion rate (21.78%) of any triggered e-commerce email.
Retailers can choose between 2 options for such emails:
- An abandoned cart reminder is supposed to encourage clients to complete their purchases. This option gently reminds the customer of the item left in the cart. It should be sent within 1 day after the abandoned cart.
- The abandoned cart series is supposed to encourage clients to complete their purchases with a series of emails. This option has the same goals except for they are sent as follow-ups in 3-5 days after the abandoned cart. Also, they usually offer a discount on the product.
2. Up-Sell & Cross-Sell Emails
These types of emails are sent to clients that have already bought some items from your store to offer them additional products.
According to recent BlueCore research, these emails typically have a .55% conversion rate, with a 6.84% click-to-conversion rate.
Note that post-purchase emails like up-sell and cross-sell campaigns have a 6.85% click-to-conversion rate.
Offer more to your buyers. You can do it in at least 3 ways:
- Product follow-up. This involves sending a follow-up message to a client that has bought an item. It can be similar products or products often purchased with the item bought by the person.
- Category follow-up. Think about the related categories when someone purchases an item from a specific category. Then try to promote similar category products.
- Receipt follow-up. More than 70% of customers will open purchase receipts emails. They have one of the highest open rates on the internet. Take your chance and offer deals for recommending friends or ask for a review.
3. Promotional Emails
Such emails can be used for different clients and in various ways:
- New products and features. Your email list is a wonderful opportunity to share information about launching a new product or service. No doubt, any development grows your credibility and reputation in the minds of the customers.
- Sales emails. Such emails aim to inform the clients about the sale or on-site reduced prices. When you put the product on sale or plan to organize a store-wide sale, it’s always a great idea and a common courtesy to let them know in advance about it.
- Subscriber-only discounts. While sending a regular newsletter or setting up a drip campaign with special promotions include promo codes for your subscribers. This will give them a feeling of membership, increase their motivation to purchase, and introduce emotion into marketing. This ‘unique offer’ should provide a single discount code that will be valid for a limited period of time. Mention the expiration date to create a limited-time offer.
- Holiday and seasonal promotions. Upcoming holidays and festive days allow using email marketing more traditionally. You will notify your subscribers about Black Friday Sales, Cyber Monday Special Offers, Christmas Holiday Sales, etc. You should kindly grant first access prerogative to your subscribers.
In this regard, price decrease emails have the highest conversion rate (1,04%) and click-to-conversion rate (9,68%) of all promotional emails.
Price decrease emails have the highest conversion rates. Low inventory triggering the psychological impulse of scarcity occupies second place with a .55% conversion rate and a 7.37% click-to-conversion rate.
At the same time, new merchandise emails have a good click-to-conversion rate, namely 8.23%, but a lower conversion rate which is .39%.
Segmentation of your audience is highly preferable. Here is an example of how most brands segment their customers:
- High AOV* customers. Retailers should use promotional packages, monthly subscription boxes, and any kind of product recommendations that comply with the usual buying cycle of the segment. Take care of your customers so that they could find everything they need in no time. (AOV* = Average order value)
- Discount customers. These clients often buy items on sale. Don’t hesitate and send them updated information about lower prices and convenient ways to save money.
- Face value customers. It is about buyers that purchase at nominal value and are not driven by discounts. Such customers are attracted by the exclusivity of the item. They will be glad to receive first-access promotions to the newly launched lines and products.
Another variant of segmentation is to divide your customers based on customer type:
- Potential customers haven’t purchased anything yet.
- New customers have just made their first purchase.
- Loyal customers have made purchases on regular basis.
- Passive customers haven’t purchased in a while.
For better segmentation use customer groups to personalize the site-wide experience of the users. This will allow you to vary prices and items for specific groups.
4. Customer Loyalty & Re-Engagement Emails
Creating a strong relationship between you and a customer is the true goal of these emails. Loyalty and re-engagement emails aim at winning back customers who haven’t bought from your store in a certain period of time.
Loyalty emails are winning back customers. Let’s see some examples of loyalty and re-engagement emails:
- Life event emails. Don’t ever miss the opportunity to collect additional data about a customer. It will help you establish more trust relations in the future. Think about birthday emails with warm wishings and provide the celebrant with a personal reason to shop with a discount during the month. It’s great, isn’t it?
- Win back emails. For sure, most people have seen such emails in their mailboxes. They come through if you don’t purchase from any shop in a while. These emails may offer discount codes in case of re-engagement and include a conversational message.
- Repurchase emails. It refers to selling goods with a defined period of use. When the time is about to end, you can send repurchase emails. That will drive re-orders.
To sum up, this is a non-exhaustive list of ideas for you to start implementing email marketing techniques just now if somehow you didn’t manage to use them before:
- Newsletters provide your audience with the latest updates on new products and your business.
- Drip campaigns are emails sent at strategic times intended to engage and educate subscribers until they buy from your shop.
- Special occasion emails are sent for birthdays, holidays, and any other personal events.
- Abandoned cart emails ensure customers complete the purchase process.
- Reward loyal emails provide reduced prices and exclusive discounts.
- Re-engage emails are sent to any customer who has not shopped in a while.
- Generate feedback testimonials and ask customers for a review.
- Trigger campaigns send specific emails when customers take a certain action. They are designed to encourage them to purchase.
These email marketing best practices are meant to help you boost customer lifetime value. Although, you are free to invent ways to reach your subscribers! Surely, you can share them with us.
Creating good emails
Keep in mind, that the main goal of an email is to encourage the readers to visit your website. The goal of a subject line is to convince to open the email. The goal of body content is to encourage to click the link.
Keep your goals in mind. Use different psychological triggers to make people follow the link. Stick to this structure with minor exceptions, and your email marketing campaigns will be a success! Follow the right email structure.
1. Catchy & Creative Subject Lines
Use all your creativity when composing subject lines because it’s the first true contact point if we talk about email marketing. If you don’t master this skill, all of the other tricks won’t have any good results as making people open your email can be a real challenge.
Write a catchy and creative subject line. What can you do to improve your chances?
- Make your mail headers human-oriented and benefit-driven.
- Are they intriguing enough that people want to click on them? Give the subscribers a good reason to open a letter in their mailbox.
- You can promise a benefit or useful information. But if you do, keep your promise in the future. Start with a few words to get people interested and continue to meet their expectations afterward.
- Include power words and phrases such as ‘tips and secrets, ‘how-to’, ‘guide’, and ‘did you know.
- Your subject line should have less than 50 characters.
- Use true figures and numbers.
- If it looks fine, provide a CTA in the subject line. (CTA = Call-to-action)
- Avoid using keywords and excessive capitals in the subject lines as such things are associated with spam.
2. Unique & High-Quality Content
Be sure that poorly written copy won’t earn you extra points in email marketing. Hence, your trust and credibility can be damaged. Say no to useless or irrelevant information. If your company’s email campaign will be flagged as spam, there won’t be another chance for you. You can never get a second chance to make a good first impression.
The main thing here is to balance your educational and promotional content. Avoid being overly promotional. Experts advise creating your content 90% educational and only 10% promotional. Follow this simple advice and don’t push too much with the sales content. Can you think less of self-promotion? Providing your subscribers with timely, relevant, and day-to-day information will guarantee to create of worthy newsletters that people open and read attentively.
Be concise and use simple words. According to statistics, customers don’t read the 500-words e-newsletter no matter what the quality is. People want to read only emails that look like a live speech of a person. Send more personalized texts to the users. If possible, address your subscription by name of the recipient. Try to avoid using generalized addressing or your company’s name.
3. Mobile-Friendly Design
The vast majority of people use their smartphones to check their emails. That’s why the responsive design must be supported. A single-column template is preferable. It looks best on a small screen, use one with a width of 600 pixels. The maximum permissible font size is 14 or 16. Avoid using complicated navigational features.
Keep your design simple. Invest in the one that is easy to read on most browsers and devices. Make sure your content looks good on the small screen. Create your content visually appealing. It should be scannable, having enough subheadings, bulleted lists, headers, and short sentences breaking up the text that make it more readable. If you use images in your newsletter, place them lower in the newsletter as sometimes they won’t load as quickly as expected.
4. Right Day & Time
Thoroughly plan the timing for newsletter sending. Try to predict what people are going to do at the time they receive emails. Then think about the final result you expect. What do you need your audience to do? Purchase an item, read an article or just take part in a survey?
Commercial offers should be sent to a potential client from 12 a.m to 3 p.m, and email marketing campaigns sent by e-commerce sites give the best profit from 7 to 10 p.m.
Use these great hacks to create emails your subscribers can’t wait to read!
More ways to get traffic to your dropshipping store
Before finishing the article, it’s a good time to remind you that while email marketing is an essential tool for generating traffic to your website, it is not the only one. There are many ways you grow the attention your website is getting online, some of which are paid and a lot of which are totally free traffic techniques. Get all of the email marketing and you’ll win the customers that will keep coming back for more, increasing your online store revenues!
