Your Go-To Guide For Ecommerce Email Marketing Campaigns

Establishing your ecommerce business in the digital world is overwhelming due to the sheer number of moving parts and channels. The good news is you don't have to be everywhere at once. Strategically focusing on one communication channel allows you to create genuine connections and stand out from the crowd. Email marketing is the best marketing channel to convert ecommerce website visitors into customers because it's relatively inexpensive and used by every generation. Recent data shows nearly 18% of businesses with email marketing campaigns achieved ROIs over $70 per every $1 invested.

What is ecommerce email marketing?

Ecommerce email marketing is a marketing strategy that uses emails to guide potential customers through the buying process, all about building relationships and inspiring customer loyalty to increase repeat purchases. It includes both promotional emails (new products, offers) and transactional emails (abandoned cart, receipt of payment, shipping confirmation). Key practices: personalize, offer exclusive discounts to returning customers, A/B test, optimize for mobile, create a referral program, ask for reviews and feedback, notify customers when items are back in stock, follow up on leads, track which emails are most responsive, and include an unsubscribe option.

Best tips to leverage your ecommerce email marketing

1. Establish your brand identity

Your ecommerce brand identity is your business personality: how customers perceive your business. Think about your name and taglines, images, email and web domains, colors, and fonts, and keep them consistent across all content to build credibility and trust.

2. Use each email as an opportunity to engage

Every email you send is a chance to engage with your customer base, not just campaigns but also newsletters, appointment confirmations, and receipts. Develop a structured marketing calendar and a strong welcome series, automate them, and build your list with opt-in opportunities and free offers.

3. Adopt a mobile-first approach

Think mobile first: bigger buttons, bigger text, simple message structure, and responsive layout. Use a design tool that ensures your campaigns render correctly for a mobile audience before any other user.

4. Design uncluttered, focused messages

Attention spans are short, so keep email messages focused, clear-cut, and uncluttered with minimal topics. Best practice is to have only one call to action; if you need multiple, visually separate those sections with white space, background colors, and full-width images.

5. Choose the right design tools

Decide on the design tools that work best for your ecommerce business, using an extensive collection of ecommerce templates to build from or as inspiration for your sequence.

6. Design with the email client in mind

Find out which email clients your customers use most, whether Gmail, Outlook, or Apple, and design emails following best practices for that specific client.

7. Include email elements that intrigue your target audience

Insert new elements like GIF animations and live content like countdown timers and dynamic maps. Make sure the first frame of your email excites your target audience, and track results as you experiment.

8. Make it modular

A modular design system means each touchpoint is replaceable without requiring other parts to be significantly modified, applying both to your email campaigns and the functionalities driving your ecommerce business.

9. Elevate your strategy with landing pages

Landing pages are great opportunities to drive traffic and conversions, where people opt into your mailing list. Include opt-in forms, keep landing page links in your social media bios, and optimize landing pages, shopping carts, and checkout pages for mobile.

10. Scale your ecommerce business

Know when to outsource, whether for payment portals, proposals, or invoices, and use a professional ESP that matches your customers' preferred email clients.

11. Maintain customer engagement

Continually nurture your client base through fluid communication. Track your email engagement metrics to better understand what design and content changes connect with your customers and boost conversion rates.

12. Integrate tools and automate emails

Make sure your website, shopping cart, shipping services, payments, accounting, and email service provider work together. Set up trigger emails to automatically send when customers take, or don't take, certain actions.

7 email types all ecommerce brands should have

Welcome email

Thank new subscribers and provide something of value to begin building a connection, such as a discount code, along with next steps like setting up an account or finishing an order.

Abandoned cart email

Customers abandon a huge amount of merchandise each year, often due to interruptions or website difficulties. A great abandoned cart email includes a "don't forget me" note, a discount code or free shipping, specifics on what was left, a CTA button, a "you might also like" section, and support contact information.

Win-back email

Browse abandonment emails, sent after customers browse without adding items to their cart, often bring in better results than abandoned cart emails since the audience pool is larger. Display the products viewed, applicable coupons, a thank-you note, and an invitation to keep shopping.

Order confirmation email

Once a customer orders, send a confirmation that thanks them, lists what they bought, and explains next steps. Include all the personal information they provided so they can flag anything incorrect, plus product recommendations based on their purchase.

Shipping confirmation email

Notify customers when their package is on the way, including the estimated delivery date, a receipt, and a tracking number. Adding a promo code here can play on their excitement and anticipation.

Promo code email

A discount code email reels customers in, since many consumers say they're more willing to shop somewhere that provides promos. Personalize your promotions, include the discount in the subject line, and keep the code short and memorable.

Survey email

Reaching out for feedback is one of the best ways to improve your ecommerce email marketing, sharing deeper insight into customer needs. Keep the survey short and include a discount code to incentivize participation.

Design your ecommerce email marketing campaign

You've got a great product or service to sell, and the world needs to know about it. Customize your ecommerce email sequence to match your brand personality and design directly in mobile view to ensure your emails render perfectly on all devices.