How to make use of email marketing to promote your e-Commerce store

Today, online businesses are making use of all possible channels to market their store sites and attract more customers. Email marketing continues to be one of the top marketing channels that every retailer likes to use. ROI (return on investment) is one of the most captivating reasons why email marketing is beneficial in promoting your e-Commerce store.

Some retailers think that email marketing was killed by spam, facebook, twitter and blogs. Well, the surveys tell a complete different story. If emails are kept short, interesting, and relevant by providing the customers (recipients) an option to unsubscribe, it does bring the revenue. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing is responsible for bringing in $40 for every $1 spent (reference).

Today, we are going to discuss, how to make use of email marketing for promoting your e-Commerce store.

Triggered emails based on customer’s behavior

One of the best ways to get the customers back on your store site is by sending out triggered emails based on customer’s behaviors. Amazon has perfected this strategy by sending out emails according to all kinds of behavior like last viewed, item in card and similar / recommended items based on last purchase. Similar email marketing strategy can make your customers to spend more time on your website and increases repeat orders as customers will be reminded by your triggered emails.

Shopping cart abandonment type triggered emails are quite common and many e-Commerce stores follow this kind of email strategy. This kind of email reminds your customers to return to the store site and finish with the order process. Every business owner’s target is to get better conversions, more sales and reduce shopping cart abandonment and these kind of triggered emails are beneficial to retailers as it decreases the shopping cart abandonment.

Sending out promotional emails

Nothing attracts a customer more than a great deal (or promotion). Email marketing is a great way to advertise your online store and promotions that you are offering. Sending out periodic emails before specific holidays keeps your clients and prospects in the loop and it stimulate interest in your business / brand. Email marketing is also considers a low-cost way to reach your customers as compared to spending money on pamphlets/flyers or other printing material.

Sending periodic newsletters

A periodic company newsletter is a good way to communicate with your customers and update them about your business. There are so many things you can talk about in your newsletters like highlighting your products / services with great images.

In your period newsletters, you can share stories that educate your audience about what’s new in your industry, share stories about how your product/service was beneficial to someone or share anything that you think your audience might find interesting (it does not have to be related to your product). These kinds of emails show that you are an expert in your industry and interested in educating your audience. It sets you apart in the competitive market. This gives you an opportunity to showcase your expertise by educating the visitors and it can turn your audience into buyers.

Sending relevant emails with option to unsubscribe

Sending relevant emails to customers based on what they signed for is quite important because nobody likes to receive irrelevant emails / content or promotional emails. In order to keep the content relevant to the audience, it is import for retailers to divide the email list into segments. For emails: “Software” segment should only receive emails about software not hardware. While maintaining the relevant content, it is important to give an option to your customer to opt-out of the mailing system anytime. This reduced the probability of recipients from reporting your email as spam or abuse.

Email marketing is one of the most important components for a successful e-Commerce business that requires time, patience, strategy and well-crafted email content.

nopCommerce allows your customers to subscriber to newsletters. nopCommerce also offers a tool for creating your own custom newsletters and email campaigns. It can also be integrated with third-party newsletter services (e.g. MailChimp).

Author: Lavish Kumar