How to Make Email Marketing Work for Your Ecommerce Business

Make the most of your ecommerce business's email marketing campaigns.

Although it's not exactly the newest online marketing method in town, email marketing is still an extremely effective method for communicating with customers and increasing ecommerce sales. The reality is that the grand majority of people who visit your ecommerce website won't make a purchase and will quickly exit your website. In fact, according to Forrester Research, 88% of consumers admitted to abandoning shopping carts. The main reason why they do it is because they're not ready to buy. That's where email marketing comes in.

Even if your website visitors aren't ready to make a purchase, try to get their lead information for email marketing purposes. Email marketing enables you to stay in touch with customers, so your brand is top of mind when they're ready to make a purchase.

Nurture Leads

Lead nurturing involves sending consumers a series of emails at set intervals after they complete a specific action. Lead nurturing enables ecommerce businesses to engage with their prospects over time. It is commonly used after prospects provide their email addresses in exchange for a free downloadable guide. For example, if you have an ecommerce website that sells swimsuits, you could offer visitors a swimwear buying guide. A couple days after they download the guide, send them an email asking if they have any questions and provide them with a special coupon code. If they don't buy anything, you could send them another discount or limited-time offer a few days later to encourage them to make a purchase. The process can be completed until the customer completes the desired action.

In conventional lead nurturing campaigns, the time intervals between emails increase. In reverse lead nurturing campaigns, the time intervals between emails decrease to build a sense of urgency among prospects. Reverse lead nurturing campaigns typically lead towards a specific event, such as a semi-annual sale or the end of a special offer.

Run a Sweepstakes or Contest

Running a sweepstakes is an excellent way to generate buzz, collect email addresses, and market to potential customers. Require prospects to provide their email addresses in order to enter into a sweepstakes for a chance to win a prize. You can also hold a contest that drives people to take action in order to win a prize. Make the contest as simple as possible to encourage more people to participate.

Make It Relevant

To obtain maximum results from your email marketing campaigns, make sure that your messages are highly relevant. You can increase the relevancy of your emails by personalizing them with details like the recipients' names or specific purchases they made in the past. You could also send date-triggered emails, such as "Happy Birthday" emails and "We Miss You" emails, or behavior-triggered emails, which are emails that are directly tied to visitor behavior. For example, if customers add items to their shopping carts and then abandon them, you could send them an email to recapture lost sales.

Need Help with Your Ecommerce Website?

efelle offers a full range of services for ecommerce businesses, from ecommerce website design to merchant account integration. We also offer a fully-customizable website shopping cart called CommerceFusion that enables you to create multiple email newsletter lists, so you can stay in touch with your customers and send them targeted, relevant messages. For more information, give our ecommerce specialists a call at 206.384.4909 or fill out our online contact form to set up a free consultation.

About the Author

As the founder of efelle (launched in 2005), Fred's vast work experience brings together a perfect balance of business, marketing and technology.

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