The Welcome Series
Best practice top tips:
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Use competitions – offer new subscribers the chance to win a prize on their first purchase (e.g. Stand the chance to win a $1000 gift voucher with your first purchase!)
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Personalization – address them by their first name (if you have their details)
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Behind-the-scenes video – put together a short clip that tells new subscribers all about your brand, maybe a tour of the warehouse or laboratory (e.g. if you’re selling makeup).
This is a great way to build trust and show subscribers what goes into making the product that they love, it also puts faces to the brand – as an ecommerce business, you have to show your customers who you are and videos are a great way of doing exactly that.
Re-engagement campaign
Best practice top tips:
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Win-back gift card – this offer is a popular one amongst ecommerce make-up stores, if you spend more than a certain amount (e.g. $60) you get a gift card (e.g. $15) off your next purchase. This offer works because it could possibly secure two purchases and shoppers love getting stuff for free! BONUS TIP – Try the BUY 2 get 1 Free special offer on products they have been viewing on your website.
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Update preferences: This is one of the more creative ways in the re-engagement campaign examples that I came across (example from Office above) – with this campaign ecommerce stores send out newsletters asking the subscriber to update their information or preferences.
For example: update your mobile number (to receive exclusive deals via text) or select the clothes you want to receive the latest special offers and discounts for. This campaign works because it re-directs the customer to your ecommerce store website (to update preferences), where they will get to see the latest products. Don’t forget to include a special PROMO code.
Abandoned cart campaign
To nudge customers along – research shows that sending 3 abandoned cart emails will result in a 69% purchase rate, as opposed to sending just 1 email. As an ecommerce retailer, you simply HAVE to have an abandoned cart email series.
Best practice top tips:
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Use reviews – Gather some hero case studies of previous customers and put them together in a newsletter as part of your abandoned cart campaign. In your newsletter, you should remind the customer of the items in their cart (they might have forgotten about it) and include a CTA button that takes them straight to the checkout on your ecommerce site.
Depending on the overall checkout total, you could also include a 10% discount on the cart total to sweeten the deal.
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Video Tutorials – tutorials are a favorite among make-up and skincare brands, but it does not have to be limited to those types of ecommerce sites! Including links to video tutorials in your abandoned cart email campaign is a cool idea because it might convince customers who were still a bit unsure of the purchase. Seeing how the product is used (e.g. eye shadow palette), how easy it is to assemble (e.g. bookshelf) or the multipurpose use of the product (e.g. a multi-way scarf that can be used as a dress) could be enough to convince the potential buyer to seal the deal.
You could even collaborate with an influencer on the video tutorials – have them use your product. BONUS TIP – Unboxing video – if you do not have the budget for a long tutorial video – why not try the ‘unboxing video’ where you open the product on the video and show customers exactly what it looks like!
Basically, anything new or extra – put it in a newsletter. For limited editions, many retailers have adopted the strategy of only making a small amount of the product available (e.g. only 150 handbags) which allows them to increase the price and makes the product more desirable.
Best practice top tips
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Create a sense of urgency: In your newsletter, you should let the customer know that this product will be sold out very soon, that there is only a certain amount available to be sold, or that you are selling the first 50 products of the range at a discounted rate (example above). Basically, you want to create a buzz around the new stock or limited edition, this increases the desirability of the product.
BONUS TIP – include a countdown clock of when the products will be available online, Kylie Cosmetics and KKW Beauty use this all the time – it creates so much anticipation, no wonder their online store websites crash when new products are released!
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Pre-order products – Before the actual release of new products or limited editions, send customers a series of newsletters that gives them the option of pre-ordering the products on your ecommerce website.
This works especially well for customers who are loyal supporters of your brand, especially in the tech industry. If customers pre-order, they can just go to the checkout page of your website and pay for their purchase on the official release date.
Holidays & Seasonal Promotions
More than 60% of consumers prefer to buy gifts online, so whether it’s Christmas or Easter, as an ecommerce site you have to use each holiday to your advantage, people are keener to spend money during the holiday seasons.
Best practice top tips
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Using discounts: Send your discounts and special offers in a newsletter – give people more reason to spend money, and make it worth their while by giving discounts for the holiday period or even just a weekend (e.g. Easter weekend 40% off!).
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Clearance sale: After every major holiday period (e.g. Christmas) you should definitely have a Clearance sale – this sale is to off-load older product lines to make way for new stock or updated ranges. P.s – don’t forget to send out the new stock email newsletter AFTER your clearance sale is done!
Now for some real-life examples 😁
Example: Netflix
Example: Cottonon
Example: Clicks
To conclude…
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