8 Automated Email Campaigns Your Ecommerce Store Needs
Are you using email automation?
Well, simply put, if you’re not, you should be. And even if you already have some automated email campaigns in action, you probably need even more.
Don’t believe us? Check out these statistics.
As you can see, automated email campaigns can deliver a lot of value for your ecommerce store. And not only that, but it saves you a bunch of time! Talk about a win-win.
So, here are the top 8 automated email campaigns that your ecommerce store simply must have.
But first, a few general tips to think about when approaching your automated email strategy.
Don’t overuse or abuse email.
Believe it or not, you are not the most important thing to people. Know your place. Over-active email strategies will lose people, so think hard about how often your audience will be happy to hear from you before going crazy with your email automation.
Put every email through the value filter before sending.
You must provide value to the recipient in every email. Make sure to review your content in depth and the segment of your audience you will be sending an email too before hitting send. Like over-using your email, sending emails that are not relevant or do not provide value to people is a surefire way to get an influx of unsubscribes.
Don’t over design
Of course, your emails must look nice, professional, and be in line with your brand. But remember that being functional is key. Also remember that the majority of emails are read on mobile, so keep it simple and clean.
PRO TIP: Test other methods of communication for you email automation where possible. For example, Facebook messenger. Each Facebook user has an email address that delivers message directly to their Facebook messenger. This typically has an incredibly high response rate compared with traditional emails.
8 Automated Email Campaigns Your eCommerce Store Needs
1. Abandoned Cart
The number 1 automated email campaign that you must be running is abandoned cart follow up. This is the lowest hanging fruit there is in ecommerce game.
Just think about it. If a visitor abandons their cart, that means that the progressed all of the way through your funnel. They selected products with care, went to the cart to review their order, and then proceeded to checkout and input at least some of the information.
And then they went cold. Sure, it’s possible that these customers had a change of heart and really don’t want your product. But more likely than not they just need a little nudge to finish the rest of the checkout. These visitors are much easier to push over the conversion edge than someone new starting out at the beginning of the funnel.
So follow up with them! And not just once.
We recommend a series of 3 emails to follow up with cart abandoners, first 1 hour after the abandoned cart, then 24 hours, and then 72 hours. To sweeten the deal and close the sale, we also recommend including a promotional offer in the 2nd or 3rd email. It’s amazing what just 10% off can do.
2. Pre-Purchase
We call this nurturing. If someone has subscribed to your email list, for whatever reason, it’s safe to say they have an interest in your product or your brand.
So for goodness sake, give the people what they want!
And no, that is not offer after offer, promotion after promotion. (Remember the value filter?)
Don’t smother your new email subscribers! Instead, use your emails for education. Provide valuable content about your products, your area of expertise, and introduce offers slowly. Start with a soft offer, incorporated into your valuable content pieces, and then follow up in the 2nd or 3rd email with a hard sell.
Like any relationship that lasts, you have to start slow. First you must provide value. Then (and only then) can you ask for something in return (such as a purchase). It’s all about give and take.
3. Post-Purchase
Congratulations! You’ve successfully created a customer out of a visitor…
Now what?
Well, first let’s talk about what not to do. Don’t leave your new customer high and dry. You might think you’ve achieved your goal of making the sale, but this is only the beginning.
Now it’s time to continue providing value. Send them useful content around how to use your product and improve their experience. You have the opportunity here to not only increase your customer’s lifetime value, making sale after sale, but also to turn your new customer into a loyal fan and brand advocate.
Every ecommerce store should have a post-purchase series to continue to surprise and delight their customers. But it is especially important for SaaS or subscription-based businesses where this continued communication and value will make or break the business.
4. Referral
Give your customers incentive to share your brand with their network.
Sure, it would be nice if they just shared your brand out of their sheer love and admiration for your brand. And maybe at times they will. But people are busy and like we said before, you are not the most important thing in your customers lives.
So make it worth their while to refer your brand.
Offers are the name of the game. Give them a great offer to share with their friends, and reward them when a friend purchases.
Note: make sure your customers feel good about the offer they are sharing with their friends. It should be a no brainer. They should feel like they are giving their friends a great deal…a gift even!
The best example we have of this is Naked Wines. They provide an offer to share with friends that you simply cannot refuse.
Did someone say $100 of free wine? Sign me up!
It is through these referrals that they built their entire business and became the wine powerhouse that they are today. What offer can you make that people will not be able to refuse?
Of course, whatever offer you make needs to make sense for your business economically speaking…but get creative! And go beyond the standard 10% off offer.
5. Order Confirmation
Certainly you already have an automated order confirmation email…but are you using it to it’s fullest potential?
Order confirmation emails are statistically one of the most highly opened and viewed emails (70.9% open rate according to Conversio).
So, if that’s the case, why not use it to sell? Do more with your order confirmation email by adding upsells, offers and promotions, and review requests.
6. Customer Service Follow Up
People like to give feedback…or at the very least, they like to have the opportunity to give feedback. So give them a chance!
The key here is to provide a place for people to air their complaints (or post their praises!). People want an outlet, and if you don’t provide one for them, they will find their own way to tell you what they think…somewhere that you don’t control.
So make sure to request feedback in an automated email to make sure that your customers feel heard.
7. Review Request
Verified customer reviews on your ecommerce store are incredibly important (and their are great platforms out there to help do this for you). Social proof often means the difference between a sale and a site exit.
So follow up with every customer once they receive their order to request a review. The key is to request the review at the right time. You need to wait until a customer’s product has arrived and they have had a chance to use it, but catch them when the product is fresh in their mind.
Think about how your customers use your product and test the right timing for your business to follow up for a review. We recommend using a trigger based on delivery. Track your shipments and once they are delivered, set your review request email to be sent out shortly after.
8. Refill Reminder
Last but not least, set up an automated email to remind your customers to purchase again when their products are running out.
While this does not apply to every ecommerce business, if you have a product that is consumable or depletes over time, reminding your customers to purchase again when they are just about to run out (and providing them a discount to do so) is a great way to make another sale.
Use some simple intelligence to determine average usage rates and reach out proactively when a customer is running low.
Maybe even consider offering them on a recurring subscription plan so they don’t even have to think about re-ordering again in the future.
Time to get to work!
Check out this article on our favorite Shopify apps to help you get your email automation under control.
