It's easy to get caught up in the complexities of email marketing - such as the best email design to increase engagement and the latest email trends to look out for.
So, we're going taking it back to the basics here. Let's take a step back and focus on eCommerce email marketing best practices so that your email reaches that inbox and has a high open rate.
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eCommerce Email Marketing Best Practices
- Use segmentation
- Get personal
- Ask for feedback
- A/B Test
Use Segmentation
Reach customers at the right time in the buyer's journey by segmenting your emails. Without email segmentation, you're wasting your time because customers are receiving irrelevant content. One of the easiest email marketing mistakes to make is to bombard customers with emails during the wrong time in the buyer's journey.
Segment emails based on location, consumer behaviors or customer lifetime value. Target specific customers and send customized messages directly to them with segmentation. This ensures that the emails you send out are relevant to the people receiving them.
Because, let’s face it, who really wants to receive an email from Wedding Paper Divas when they’ve been married for almost two years?
Start simple by segmenting a group of engaged customers, like those who have opened your previous email. Send an enticing message, and provide an incentive so that they navigate to your site and make a purchase.
For the unengaged segment of consumers, target them with re-engagement emails and attractive email designs to increase engagement.
Get Personal!
Humanizing your brand is a phrase you’re probably familiar with by now, but it’s significant to a strong email marketing strategy. Who wants an email delivered by something that sounds like spam or that is tailored for the masses?
Personalization is not only one of the email subject line best practices, but can happen anywhere in your email, and it’s great because it is minimal effort and your recipients will appreciate it and feel more inclined to engage.
Start simple and try adding personalization tokens to your email subject lines, or if you really want to take your email marketing to the next level, start sending out personalized follow-up emails. They’re a great way to receive feedback while reinforcing to your recipient that they matter.
Ask For Feedback
Don't be afraid to ask for feedback from your subscribers. After all, who knows what they want better than, well, themselves? This is a great way to figure out what is working and what is not within your emails and the content you're publishing.
Asking for feedback from your recipients will make them feel more valued, which in turn makes you seem more trustworthy. It is truly a win-win. Buyers appreciate honesty, and so should you as a seller.
A/B Test
Would you ever serve a brand new recipe at a party without tasting it first? What if the first try wasn’t good, would you remake it or serve it anyway? The same thought process can and should be applied to your email marketing.
Use A/B Testing for everything from subject lines, to email template layouts, to call-to-action buttons. This is the only way to make sure you’re sending the best-optimized emails as possible. If you don’t A/B test, how do you know what’s really working?
Begin by testing your subject line for open rate. Almost any email provider, like Constant Contact or MailChimp, will provide you with easy instructions on how to run an A/B test on their platform.
Avoid making the common email marketing mistakes and begin following best practices to see results. You'll be on your way to reaching your audience and having them open your emails. Here's some advice:
- Send emails to only those who want them
- Use good subject lines only, please
- Inscribe your company name in email
- Be consistent
- Have multiple versions of every email
- Use enticing calls-to-action
- Test, test, test
Send Emails To Only Those Who Want Them
You never want to be “that person” in any situation, so why should your email campaign be any different? Simply put – it shouldn’t.
The most important rule to live by when it comes to eCommerce email marketing best practices is that you should never send an email to a person that didn’t sign up for it.
We call this spam email, and being marked as spam hurts. It hurts not only the deliverability of your email campaign but also your brand reputation in the grand scheme of things.
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Use Good Subject Lines Only, Please
Unfortunately, the subject of spam is not going away when we discuss eCommerce email marketing best practices. Including a smart subject line is the number one way to ensure that your email will reach a desired inbox.
A smart subject line gets straight to the point without containing too much punctuation or capitalization. Short and sweet subject lines can be fun, humorous and effective when they properly relay the message of your email content.
Bad Subject Line Example
"READ THIS EMAIL TO SAVE $10!!!!!"
This terrible subject line above uses two types of punctuation: both a dollar sign and exclamation points. Many email programs might read this as spam and never deliver the email to your targeted inboxes in the first place.
Good Subject Line Example
"Learn How You Can Save $10"
This good subject line above is short enough that many preview panes will show the entire subject line without cutting it off. It is the perfect exemplar of how keeping a subject line short and sweet can get the point across and relay the benefits of the email without disrupting consumers or coming off as spammy.
Inscribe Your Company Name in Email
Do you have an email address dedicated to your email campaigns that includes your company name? If not, when you're done reading this blog - make one!
Having a dedicated email address will ultimately increase your email deliverability. It's always a good rule of thumb to include a reminder for your subscribers to add your email address to their safe sender list. Follow the template below when creating your email:
From: Your Business Name <info@yourcompanyname.com>
Your email’s from name is also an important factor when sending your emails. Your from name should either be your company’s name or someone specific at your company.
Use this name consistently in your email campaign – it will help you build familiarity, which ultimately could increase your open rate. Don't forget to check this email account on a regular basis for correspondences or unsubscribe requests.
Be Consistent
We strongly believe that if you are going to put forth the effort to begin an email campaign, you should have enough content to keep it going – consistency is key. Inform your email subscribers of what to expect from the beginning. Then, it's up to you to keep up with those expectations.
Have Multiple Versions Of Every Email
With every beautiful email you send out, always have a back up plan. You can’t rely on people to have their images turned on or for people to subscribe to the HTML version. Every email you send should have a plain text version, which includes:
- Your company’s name, website, address and phone number
- Your email subject line
- Your email content
- Specific URLs from your email
The HTML version of your email should also contain alternative image names. Without these, people who have turned their images off will be missing out on that content and might not understand the message of your email – especially if you are sending an email that contains mostly images and little text – which we would never suggest.
Use Enticing Calls-To-Action
Just like your website, your emails need strong calls-to-action (CTAs). These are principal when it comes to eCommerce email marketing best practices.
Without CTAs, people won’t know how to properly interact with your email or website and likely won’t take the “intended next step”. Similar to CTAs, your email needs to have a clear and concise message. Without a concise message people are going to miss the purpose of your email.
Your email’s message and its CTAs are the best way to lead people to your website and a great way to direct their interaction.
Test, Test, Test
I can say from experience that there is no such thing as over-testing. If you don’t test your emails regularly, there’s a good chance that something will go wrong on at least one occasion.
A customer or someone else can find these irregularities, which may or may not cause problems for your company. Don't make this mistake! We like to use A/B testing to determine what works best for us.
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Conclusion
We hope these eCommerce email marketing best practices have inspired your email marketing strategy. By following these best practices, your email is bound to reach your targeted inboxes (and have a great open rate.)
If you need assistance in running the best marketing campaign for your eCommerce business or are struggling with high abandoned cart rates, contact us through the form below. We're happy to help!
