The eCommerce market is booming, and there’s never been a better time to become an eCommerce business owner. You can start a website today and quickly take your online store to the next level with a few smart business and marketing techniques.
One of the most successful techniques that business owners have today is email marketing. Email marketing campaigns are still the most robust way to reach individual customers on a personal level who are looking for what you have to offer.
Best Practices When Using Email with Ecommerce
So, what are the best practices to use when you are planning and launching email marketing campaigns?
Let’s take a look at what some of the experts advise:
1. Use retargeting and remarketing techniques for non-responders.
If you have visitors who often click on your item or ad, then move on without a purchase, these are the ones you will want to remarket to. By a careful look at the behaviors of your target audience, you can narrow your marketing to include specific people who are not following through with a purchase but who show an interest in your products or services.
2. Find a good email automation tool.
Email campaign automation has become super efficient due to new AI that is being programmed into them. This smart technology knows how to target customers who have specific preferences and market to them at the right time to improve your results.
3. Send abandoned cart emails.
This is one of the most successful techniques in increasing your results with email marketing campaigns. Many automated software applications will do this. When a person leaves something in their cart, they will receive a message reminding them to check out. It may also include a discount on their purchase if you configure it this way. This has been proven to be effective for many online eCommerce owners when used in conjunction with an offer.
4. Send customer loyalty emails.
This is a way to reward loyal customers. Brag on them for their loyalty with your brand and offer a discount on their next purchase to encourage more purchases. Try offering a “free gift.” People will appreciate the acknowledgment, as well as the opportunity to save more money.
5. Be friendly.
People don’t want hard-core sales techniques. But a friendly “digital smile” through email can go a long way toward softening them up toward your brand. Thank them for past purchases, talk about something that is relevant, and work on ways to increase your value.
The goal of your email marketing campaigns should be to increase your average order value, increase your customer base, and produce more revenue. All of this should also result in increasing your ROI (return on investment).
Creating an eCommerce Site with Dropshipping in Mind
Dropshipping is the practice of selling other companies’ products through a system that doesn’t require you to carry inventory. This system works with an online eCommerce business because you can offer products that belong to someone else and use your wholesale account with that store to send the order to the customer.
From an entrepreneurial mindset and also as a business model, dropshipping can be lucrative if you find a niche market that you can supply the market with. It also keeps your overhead low, since you are not stocking inventory and you only purchase the item once a customer has purchased it.
To help with this process, we recommend taking a look at this complete dropshipping for business guide. Once you head over to the article, you will find detailed sections that break down the following components of a successful dropship ecommerce site.
- What is Dropshipping?
- Online Business Without Investment
- The Cost to Launch a Dropshipping Store
- Dropshipping FAQs
- 16 Dropshipping Tips for Entrepreneurs
- Discover Other Online Stores
- What is ePacket Delivery
Once you have a better understanding of why and how dropshipping works, you can start to plan out how you would like to integrate email marketing and lead generation into the mix. With user and customer data being collected through lead generation forms, popups, and checkout, there are plenty of opportunities to experiment with pixel tracking, remarketing, autoresponders, and follow-up emails on shopping cart abandonment.
Best Practices When Using Email with Ecommerce
If you are going to use email marketing campaigns within your eCommerce store, you need to know what the best practices are. Below are some of the most important aspects of this.
- Never email prospective customers until they have “opted in” to your offer or newsletter. There is a federal law that requires permission before allowing you to email prospective customers in an email marketing format. If you are selling on online platforms such as Etsy, eBay, or Amazon, you should also check the rules on these platforms as well regarding email marketing.
- Work from a list based on people who have expressed an interest in your brand through social media, prior purchases, and customer support emails. These people already have more of an interest in your brand than others do so they are more likely to convert as a customer.
- Put an email automation system in place that will take care of your customers even when you are away. A “thank you” message that goes directly to the customer following a purchase is a great idea.
- Offer incentives for buying more or returning to your site. This will improve your retention rate and get repeat business.
- Follow up on customer service emails as soon as possible. Don’t make them wait too long to get a reply. Take care of your customer and they will reward you with more sales and leads.
How to Build Your Email List Daily
One of the best ways to build your email list is to ask people to sign up for your newsletter or emails. Make this a focus on your site with the words, “My kingdom for your email” with a nice castle graphic in the background. You can create the offer any way you choose.
Use humor, be witty, whatever it takes to get them to sign up. Consider doing a short video that speaks directly to the customer with a subtle call-to-action asking them to join.
You’ll need to communicate that you are not going to bother them any more than you have to, but that signing up will give them something of value. Perhaps you could send them links to valuable information, offer an occasional coupon or gift, or other techniques that will help increase your response rate.
Remember when you send emails to make sure your title is compelling. Like a book, the title alone will determine whether or not your potential customer even opens your email, to begin with. So make it good.
In Summary…
Email marketing is still considered one of the most effective ways of getting new leads and promoting your brand in front of your target audience. With some planning and the right resources, you can take your brand from an unknown small eCommerce company to the next big thing.
In addition to having an online store of your own, it’s also important to make sure your mailing list is growing in size daily. This is something AfterOffers.com specializes in, while also delivering thousands of new email subscribers to a wide range of brands and ecommerce sites online.
To learn more about the process, and how to get started with a campaign of your own today, click here to contact us.