According to a recent study, for every dollar you spend on email marketing, you see $42 in return. With ROI not exactly easy to prove from other methods of advertising, this gives email marketing quite a competitive edge over other efforts. In other words, it’s an incredibly valuable channel for your online business.
A well-executed email campaign can not only boost your sales but also re-target lapsed buyers, upsell your existing customers, and gain you some referrals.
But how do you define a ‘well-executed’ campaign? There’s certainly more planning to it, but it all starts with the email itself.
Here are some e-commerce email ideas to boost your sales.
1. Referral Email
A referral giveaway is an excellent way to generate more leads, boost your traffic, and get some more sales. It’s also a great way to tap into resources you already have – you’re existing customers.
Create an email campaign to send to your customers, asking them to refer any friends or connections that they think would be a great fit for your services. The customer who gets the most referrals will receive a discount.
A lot of people worry about burdening their customers with this kind of request. But if done correctly, your customers will actually feel like you’re taking extra care of them. But, if you want to go the extra mile, offer to return the favor.
2. Email With a Countdown Timer
Urgency is one of the most, if not the most, efficient sales tactics. Use urgency in your email campaigns by creating an email with a special offer and add a countdown timer in the email body and on the landing page.
It’s one thing to simply say that the offer will expire on a certain date. But it’s much more effective to show the time actually running out. It simply elicits a strong psychological action that makes customers take action now rather than later.
3. Special Offer
This one is quite straightforward, and most likely one you’ve received in your own inbox from numerous brands and companies you’re subscribed to. That’s because it works.
Make a unique, once in a lifetime offer to surprise your customers. A regular sale email works fine, but every sale season, you’re competing with everyone else sending out the same email. Instead, come up with something new and unexpected that will grab your customer’s attention. Look at what your most popular item or package is and offer it at a discount. Or, survey your subscribers to see what excites them most about your company and see if you can turn that into some kind of offer.
4. Exclusive Offer
Okay, you may be wondering how exactly this kind of email is different than a special offer email, but let us explain. Exclusive offer email differs in that it’s not available to everyone. Pick a specific customer segment to send this kind of offer. Maybe you only want to target your customers that have been loyal to your brand for five years or more. Or, maybe you want to only target customers that are within a certain region. Whatever it is, pick the segment that makes sense and send them a “secret sale” campaign.
Everyone likes to feel special; it’s in our nature. Like urgency, giving the feeling of exclusivity is one of the most efficient sales tactics.
5. Personalized Recommendation Email
You’ve seen these emails before. You purchased a product, and then later, you get an email from the company with suggestions of other products they think you’ll like based on your previous purchase activity. It can be a little annoying, but only because from a consumer standpoint, it’s extremely effective at making us all spend a little more money.
You can send similar emails with targeted offers based on past purchases or use one of the SaaS tools designed specifically for that purpose, such as Nosto or Segmentify. Aside from encouraging more sales, they’re also a great way to show your customers how well you know them and what they like.
6. Social Proof Email
Social proof is another powerful conversion tool. In practice, you can use it by showing off any press or special coverage your product has received. For example, maybe it won an award you or was recommended by an influencer in your space.
The key is to be specific and use language that really showcases its popularity. For example, state exactly how many people have purchased the product, or show an image of an influencer wearing it (if it’s clothing). Think about what it would take to sell your product effectively. What would make recipients excited about it, enough that they’d be inspired to purchase?
7. Abandoned Cart Email
Abandon cart emails are triggered when customers add an item to their carts, but then they exit out of the page or don’t actually end up buying the product. These customers have come a long way and were already convinced to buy until they weren’t. Don’t lose these customers.
A simple one-line email can remind them of their original intention and bring them back to finish the purchase. But these emails have to be smart in their approach. Make sure you show an image of the product, and it doesn’t hurt to include any positive reviews from other customers. If still nothing happens, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to offer a discount for returning.
8. New Stock Notice
Getting your existing customers to buy repeatedly is way easier than acquiring new customers. It makes sense, as someone who was already compelled to buy something from you once, would typically be more likely to buy something from you again.
A great way to light a fire under a customer and encourage a repeat purchase is to simply send out new stock announcement emails. Get them excited about your new products by showing them off and putting them front and center in an email campaign.
9. Birthday Email
A birthday is a special time for everyone and letting them know you care is a powerful way to make your company stand out. But don’t just wish them a happy birthday, provide them with a birthday discount so they can treat themselves by purchasing one of your products.
By sending out an automated email for each customer’s birthday, you’ll make them feel special, valued, and encourage them to return to your online store and make a purchase.
We hope this article inspired you a bit and gave you some ideas for generating more sales in your email outreach. Don’t be afraid to try something new, just make sure you track results so you can either try again in the future or improve your next efforts.