Emails that you send to your customers to notify them that the order has been confirmed or their item is on its way are the most effective in improving customer experience. 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. When done well, after-order email helps in communicating with the customers and can be one of the best customer relationship builder.
According to Bain and company - the average return customer spent 67 percent more in months 31-36 of his or her shopping relationship than in months zero-to-six. Hence, repeat purchasers spend more and generate larger transactions (source).
An infographic from Zendesk shows that acquiring new customers is an expensive process for businesses, so it’s vital that some of them become loyal to the brand and return for repeat purchases. The data also shows that 34% believe that exceptional customer service is the best way to build customer loyalty. For more information, see this: https://econsultancy.com/blog/10908-infographic-what-makes-customers-stay-loyal
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. Here are a few ideas:
Thank your customer for placing an order on your store site
Majority of online stores triggers a series of emails when an order is placed so that customer is well information. These emails includes order confirmation, processing time, when item will be shipped and when customer should expect the item to be delivered. Yes, all these emails help to make sure that your customer is on the same page. But, try to think outside of the box; think about what else you can do that other online stores are not doing with these common series of emails.
- Add a personalized “thank you” email in your email series
- Notify your customer where they can post the product review so that if they are satisfied or unsatisfied with the product, you as a store owner is aware of that
- Make sure to provide your contact information to the customer so that they can contact you easily
- Share your existing customer’s story with other customers
- Educate your customer about your policies via email by providing them information on refund and return policy
Make it easier for your customer to re-order the item
Amazon has perfected this strategy by sending out emails and making it easier for their customers to re-order items on one single click. This kind of strategy works very well if you would like your customers to return to your store site and place more orders. Try to make it as easy as possible for your customers to re-order item(s). Simply, adding a button in their account section is not enough. It is also important to personalize the email so that customers can remember easily what product they ordered. Make sure to email your customers the steps involved in re-ordering the same item they ordered from you in past.
Ask your customers to share their experience
Your marketing strategy should include an email that asks customers to submit product reviews and their shopping experience. Product reviews is one of the best ways to receive feedback from your customers. Product reviews can be a very important factor for your customers in making a decision to buy a product from your online store. Let us say, if an online store is offering a product that comes with installation manual which is not easy to understand. Many customers might post a negative feedback about the complex installation instructions that came with the product. Now this is a great chance for the online store to listen to its customers and make change to improve the installation process.
Tip – Check out the article on “Why product reviews are a must-have for online stores”
nopCommerce allows store owners to make use of message templates that will be sent automatically on certain activities on the stores like receiving an order, complete order notification, shipment delivered notification and much more. nopCommerce offers the feature of product reviews which is one of the best forms of marketing. Asking for feedback on products gives customers a voice and lets others know what people think about your products. nopCommerce also supports review helpfulness feature (“Was this review helpful for you?”)
Author: Lavish Kumar