23. What is Ecommerce Email Marketing: Simple Insights.

This is the last post in the long list of things I've learned in the last 3 weeks and it will be in a list form.

The final topic I learned was on Email Marketing for Ecommerce and these are the lessons I learned. 

1. Marry Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is your friend. As someone trying to connect with a bunch of people on the Internet that you barely know, you should be very interested in what Google Analytics has to say to you. 

In case it wasn't already clear, Google Analytics takes track of the information left by your web visitors in the form of views, clicks, scrolls etc. It then gives you insight into your business business. 

As it concerns email marketing, if you drop an email campaign and you want to know how long people were on your site after reading your email, which email made them stay, etc then Google Analytics will give you a report on that. 

2. Types of Emails

Honestly, this varies by name from business to business. But there are very recurring ones that come in various names, but same content and these are:

A. Transactional Emails: these are sent during checkout or anytime any type of purchase is made. Such emails sound like "What did I buy? When will it be sent out?" etc. An example is an email with an order and shipping details. 

B. Broadcast Emails: You send this to your entire list of subscribers or a segment of your email list like Your VIP list, or Best list. What these emails do is they help nurture your subscribers into customers and even further turn them into loyal customers. 

An example is a monthly or weekly newsletter or a survey.

C. Triggered Emails: These emails are triggered off the user behaviours of your subscribers. Everytime for example a subscriber abandons a cart, it triggers a series of emails. Or when they're dormant, or even when they purchase something.

Another name for these are Life cycle emails.  

3. How To Craft An Effective Welcome Mail

Straight to the point: 

• Thank the person for subscribing. This shows they picked you out to subscribe to out of a thousand other businesses. It was intentional. Thank them for choosing you. 

• Let them know how often they should expect to hear from you. It really depends on them sometimes but be sure not to be too pushy or buggy. Eventually you can find out from their behaviour what they want. But in the meantime, let them know to expect your emails at a certain time.

• Make sure you personalise the message you send out to them. Be personal starting from your subject line, their name and the body of the email. 

• Let your welcome email be automated so once a subscriber signs up, they receive it instantly. 

• Tell them what to do. Be very clear. People like a clear Call to Action. 

• Make sure your links are clickable and redirect to where you want them to. Test it yourself. 

• Finally, check it yourself and name sure your mail can be read on mobile devices. Many people read their emails on mobiles so test your mail on mobile. 

 

4. 4 Email Copywriting Mistakes You Should Avoid. 

• Don't write to everybody. In your mail, you must employ the power of You. You are speaking to one person at a time. That's how you ensure personalisation and uniqueness. 

• Don't start writing an essay. It's an email so be very concise and clear. Be sure to engage your subscribers with great storytelling if your email must be long but as a guide, write sizable copy that they can read and be done with in record time. 

• Remember that you are a human being talking with another human being. Don’t be afraid to be personable and human. Don't sound robotic. Let your personality shine.

• Don't be pushy. At all. Write your email and be valuable. Don't be too salesy or pushy in your selling. Instead opt for being maximally valuable. 

5. How To Grow Your Email List.

• Use Tactics that don't scale: Usually everyone tells you to run ads or connect digitally with people. But did you know you can get email subscribers using Word of Mouth? Yes. You can collect emails in person. You should try this. 

• Leverage Partnerships: You can connect with both creators in the same niche as you are and those that aren't and leverage your friendship with them. Through partnership, you'll be able to connect with a different audience than you are exposed to. And if they are interested in what you offer, you get new subbies.

• You can use influencers on Shopify for example to get new subbies on your list. All you need to do is connect with them and discuss exactly what you want to be done. This will probably cost you some money but it is super effective when done right. 

• You can use the Short Course Method. What this means is you can create a 5 day or 7 day short course or series and use it as a lead magnet. Whoever is interested in what the course addresses will easily sign up to get access. 

6. How To Evaluate Your Ecommerce Email Marketing.

This is how you know that your email marketing business is doing well. 

• Open Rate: This tells you how many successfully delivered email campaigns were opened by your subscribers. A healthy rate should be up to 20% to 30%. A great way to up your open rate is to craft a compelling subject line. 

• Clickthrough Rate: This tells you how many successfully delivered email campaigns registered at one click. A standard clickthrough rate should be at least 2%. 

• Revenue: This is how much money you make from the email campaigns you sent out. 

This is by no means an exhaustive list. But this should be enough information to know how an Ecommerce Email Marketing business works and how to get started. 

See next post for a step by step guide to begin.