E-commerce is an excellent venue for making money.
But, as with brick-and-mortar selling, there are some hurdles that you need to overcome to generate sales. There’s the big issue of cart abandonment, while there are some who leave after a few seconds on the site.
While these often mean lost revenue, you can still bring these clients back to your website with email marketing. This is an easy, low-cost method that’s fairly effective in terms of promotion. After all, 59% of consumers end up purchasing items after receiving marketing emails.
With email marketing producing a high ROI at a low price, it’s a must-do strategy for any online business. That includes yours!
Whether you have a small or big business, all you need to do is follow these five proven ways on how to leverage your email list:
Tip #1: Incentivize
You need to send a welcome email to prospective clients as soon as they sign up.
After all, 76% of subscribers expect to receive a welcome letter right away. As the average open rate for welcome emails is a whopping 50%, it’s a great venue for you to make a pitch.
That said, the best way to leverage your email list is to make compelling offers. Buyers love freebies and discounts.
Here are some incentives that can help you maximize sales:
- Offer a discount coupon or free shipping offer for new subscribers and first-time buyers
- Remind the buyers of their chance to win coupons from website popups and games
- Provide next-purchase discounts for those who already bought from the site
Apart from these giveaways, another way to improve revenue is to send emails for your loyalty program. After all, 56% of consumers will sign up for a company’s loyalty program, especially if they often buy from it. Of these members, 84% are sure to make a redemption.
To unlock the financial potentials that loyalty programs bring, make sure to:
- Send an email detailing the discounts and perks of joining the loyalty program
- Forward reminder emails that tell the customers how close they are to making a redemption
Tip #2: Personalize
While automated email marketing is a godsend, you can always make some tweaks and adjustments to maximize your sales. After all, a personalized message using the client’s name can help you appeal to the prospective buyer.
To help improve the customer experience, try to send a special form that collects information about the client’s buying patterns. For example, if you sell clothes, you can create a questionnaire about the customer’s size, style preference, and the items he/she will most likely purchase.
Top this off with a reward as an incentive, like a 10% discount for their next purchase. Apart from increasing the possibility of purchase, this can provide you with data to improve your email campaign.
Another technique to try is to send email reminders of the customer’s last-viewed items. This is especially important for those who abandoned their carts.
Make sure to create a sense of urgency using lines such as, “Stocks are running out!” Who knows? The fear of missing out may just be the nudge that your buyer is waiting for.
Tip #3: Publicize Your Restocks
You can lose plenty of customers because of out-of-stock items. While this may be the case, it’s still not too late.
Instead of removing the product’s webpage, add a subscribe button instead. This is an excellent way to leverage your email list if the customer didn’t sign up for welcome emails.
More than just improving your marketing reach, a restock email can help drive additional sales, too. Let’s say the client has forgotten about his/her supposed purchase. With this gentle reminder, you can lead them back to your website.
Tip #4: Unveil Your Sales
Customers find it hard to resist sales and discount promos. This is especially the case during the sale seasons, such as Thanksgiving.
In the US alone, Black Friday sales accounted for $7.4 billion in revenue, while Cyber Monday raked in a whopping $9.4 billion. Not surprisingly, the recent holiday season brought a record-high $137.55 billion in e-commerce sales.
That said, if you want to make the most out of the sale season, then make sure to build the hype up with email marketing.
What’s great about the sale season emails is that you can build a series around this. You could perhaps start with a teaser about five days before the sale, with ‘big reveals’ coming with every email until the sale date itself. Building the suspense will make your customers raring for a purchase.
Another way to increase purchase desire is to add a countdown timer to your emails. This will make your clients all excited about your sale. As this capitalizes on the fear of missing out, it’s best placed in pre-sale email announcements.
You can also use timers during the sale period, so your buyers see how much time they have before the discounts wither away.
Granted that some people may need a harder shove to make a purchase, you can capture this opportunity by extending your sale period.
An email about your extended promotion – say a Cyber Tuesday announcement – may dawn as an epiphany to your client. It may be the sign they’re looking for to buy from your website!
Tip #5: Optimize
While most subscribers open their emails for deals and discounts, this is no excuse for you to slack off with your messages.
As mentioned, make sure to use the client’s first name in the emails. This sure beats the usual Mr. or Ms. salutations.
Remember to keep the subject short but sweet, limiting the number of words from 6 to 10.
Try to use power words that increase conversions, such as huge, massive, intense, life-changing, and on-demand, to name a few. As your clients may be scanning loads of emails, you need a subject that captures their attention right away.
Conclusion
If you introduce these significant innovations in your email marketing strategy, your consumers will be more receptive, your campaign efficiency will increase and your company will continue to expand.
So, maximize your sales, by following these tips above, you can keep your customers happy and raring for a purchase!
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