Even though email marketing may seem quite strict, it is considered one of the most effective in the eCommerce field and remains an important means for slowly cultivating the customer’s trust.

If properly managed, an interesting list that is communicated well not only helps to increase circulation among readers but also shapes the market of regular and faithful customers.

In this blog post, let’s learn about the importance of email marketing and different types of eCommerce emails, as well as some helpful tips and case studies for crafting great emails on eCommerce.

What is an eCommerce Email?

An eCommerce email is a specific form of communication technology that focuses on businesses, specifically selling goods and services through the Internet. These are provisional in getting into touch with the customers, advertising the products, stimulating the buying spirit, and warming the leads.

Therefore, the primary purpose of eCommerce emails is to nurture good and long-term relations with the buyers by offering them value, improving their shopping experience, and motivating them to make more purchases / repeated purchases.

Importance of eCommerce Email

Here are some important eCommerce Emails:

1. Enhancing Customer Engagement

A few more conventional practices need to be mentioned here regarding using emails in the context of eCommerce, as communicating with customers is an important strategy for staying in touch with them even after the check has been paid.

In one way, using email newsletters helps to maintain the subscriber base’s awareness of the business’s new products, promotions, and bonuses. In particular, such a constant exchange of messages within the audience facilitates customer retention and creates conditions for repeat consumption.

2. Increasing Sales and Conversions

One of the most effective tools currently used is email, and many online stores use it to drive sales and conversions. This can include messages such as exclusive and limited-time-only offers, or an announcement of back-in-stock items to help customers never miss a desired key product.

Thus, the user-friendliness and immediate nature of e-mail is a popular mode for many consumers – and, therefore, the percent conversion rate is higher.

3. Collecting Customer Insights

Measuring the efficacy of the mail in circulation helps track and observe the patterns that clients demonstrate towards the mail.

Measuring tools like open rates and click-through and conversion rates help businesses know what may work, and what doesn’t so that they can improve the kind of marketing that goes to the public.

4. Cost-Effectiveness

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways of marketing as it does not require Recourse. This means they can market their goods and services to many prospective consumers at a lower price than other vigorous marketing techniques.

Also, getting paid for every email sent ‘pay per email’ is favourable for the return on investment (ROI) for email marketing, which is crucial to any eCommerce marketing campaign.

5. Building Brand Awareness

The effectiveness of an e-commerce website’s email can be established by following the plan below to ensure that brand awareness is created. In return, business owners can provide value to their target customers by sending them helpful information daily, thus maintaining a constant reminder to the customers of their brand in the market.

This constant branding keeps the consumers aware of the brand since they see the advertisements aired most of the time.

Types of eCommerce Emails

It is important not to assume that all your eCommerce emails will contain the same message and serve the same function. It is essential to differentiate the various types of emails to properly plan your strategy and put together persuasive messages that achieve their purposes.

Here are a few basic types to know:

1. Promotional emails: These are reminders or promotional emails aimed at selling a product or a service. They can contain a code to buy or sell the product at a cheaper rate.
2. Transaction emails: These emails are exclusively business-oriented and regarding orders only. Transaction emails include confirmation emails, shipping confirmations, and delivery notifications.
3. Abandoned cart emails: These emails are based on customers’ information to encourage the clients to buy things left in the cart.
4. Welcome emails: These emails are targeted to users who have shared their email addresses whether for product updates, rewards points, or something else. It also enables one to check whether an email is authentic or not.

1. Promotion Emails

Promotion emails can be described as a marketing message where a business sends details concerning a particular sale or a newly developed product or service to customers.

These are generally sent to get the recipient’s attention with the intention of making a sale or encouraging them to take advantage of a certain promotion.

Some typical characteristics of promotional emails include creative greetings, warm branding and design of the copy, and a large and noticeable call to action part that informs the receiver of the next steps. In more ways than one, however, they greatly help boost sales, customer loyalty, and evangelism.

Purpose of a Promotional Email

It is used to communicate a sale, a new product, or even a special event to customers.

What do you need to know?

• Make sure that the promotion aspect is emphasized clearly.
• Have compelling visuals and a direct instruction to follow some action.
• Perform promotions according to the selected audience segments.

In the promotional email example below, you’ll notice:

• It is designed to promote Black Friday with 30% off for customers.
• It has a coupon code that the customers can redeem when ordering.
• The copy makes it a little more exclusive and offers the deal to only the ‘best’ customers to lure every customer to take up the offer.

2. Abandoned Cart Emails

An abandoned cart email is sent if a customer leaves an order and does not proceed to check out or purchase other items in the cart. Suppose today you are browsing on Amazon and have placed a book in the shopping cart but have not bought it.

You may receive an email that will give you a prodding that there is the said book, which will sometimes lead you to the confirmation page of the purchase.

Purpose of an abandoned cart email

To provide another timely notification to the customers who abandoned items in their carts.

What do you need to remember?

• Send the email a few hours or days after they abandoned the cart.
• Cart abandoned images and details of the product left in it.
• After each step in the checkout process, present the customer with the option to complete the purchase with a small discount or free shipping.

Now let us see an example of an abandon cart email. You’d notice:

• This is demonstrated by the various products that the company deals in.
• The CTA is to accomplish the order you need your users to do.
• It displays the products put in the cart but not purchased.

3. Welcome Emails

An automated welcome mail is usually sent to a new customer registered in your online store. For instance, if a customer registers at a site, such as ASOS, they may receive an e-mail welcoming them to the site, and familiarizing them with the company, accompanied by possibly a first order-inducing discount.

However, there is no need to always adhere to this format. Thus, you might buy something at ASOS through their Web site or subscribe to their mailing list, which might automatically assign you the status of a welcome user. This email initiates the relationship and lays the foundation for future communication with the message projected.

Purpose of a Welcome Email

For welcoming the new subscribers to your list and to make them familiar with your brand.

What should be remembered?

• It is recommended that the welcome email be sent as soon as the subscription is complete.
• They need to contain a friendly welcome message and a short brand presentation.
• The offer of a first-time purchase discount, or an exclusive piece of content, will capture the attention of new subscribers.

In the below example, we do all of the above and more.

• In this welcome email, the target eCommerce company provides the users with a quiz about their hair and recommends the best solutions.
• A single CTA was used in the section and replicated in the email body, a catchy phrase urging users to take the quiz.
• Brand images depict what kind of products they should expect.

4. Transaction Emails

Transaction emails are messages sent to customers following specific interactions or actions they take on an eCommerce platform. Unlike promotional emails, intended for marketing purposes, transaction emails are initiated by a customer’s direct engagement with the business, such as placing an order, resetting a password, or confirming a subscription.

These emails provide timely and relevant information and ensure a seamless and positive customer experience. Examples include order confirmations, shipping notifications, and account updates. Transaction emails help foster trust and transparency between the business and its customers by offering critical information at key points in the customer journey.

Purpose of Transaction Emails

These notifications have the purpose of refreshing the minds of the customers of the eCommerce company they are dealing with.

What do you need to remember?

Let the Transactional Emails be a second chance for companies to remind their clients they exist.

In the below example of a Transaction Email, the bedtime accessory-selling company:

• Tickets cost €60 and thanks to customers, reminding them of their purchase
• Come and get a hold of their latest range of lockets at a discounted rate
• There are images of their lockets and how they could be helpful in real-life situations
• Greets them with a ‘Happy New Year’ and a Call to action: ‘Shop Lockets’, motivating customers to purchase the new stock

How To Write An eCommerce Email That Sells?

In the earlier part of this guide, we explored the various ideas of eCommerce emails. In this section, it is crucial to know how to ensure the email is compelling and will transform the client into clicking the call to action button and making the change.

Copy for an eCommerce email combines written strategic content and creative email text with customer personalization. Here’s how you can craft compelling emails for your eCommerce business:

1. Compelling Subject Line

This could sound like a cliché, but in reality, it means that this is the point in creating art where everything begins. A Subject line is one of the most important elements of an eCommerce email as every email needs a great subject line.

The subject line is the first thing your audience will see while deciphering whether the mail is worth opening. It should entice curiosity and provide a suggestion or two of what to anticipate.

In a clearly actionable manner, and by using elements of personalization or creating curiosity. For instance, “Dear Sarah, Your Dream Shoes Are on Sale!” or “FLASH SALE: Get access to this limited offer on the weekend only!” This way, the subject lines are unique, convey a sense of urgency, and directly convey the valuable contents of the email.

2. Personalized Greeting

As we have previously noted, most elf companies allow you to use clients’ first names. All in all, I have to admit that there is no way to develop a unique strategy for highlighting the necessity and efficiency of your product/service in contrast with competitors by using only the first names!

Therefore, ensure that you can consider the courtesy of sending the email based on previous correspondence, purchase history, or even the client’s preferences. For example, you could copy like this: If you observe, this message means, “We appreciate that you like our skincare products; you should try this!” This kind of message makes the recipient happy to be noticed.

In addition, one would have to research to write personalized emails that would fit the recipient perfectly. If you are communicating with customers, you can frame the copy of an email based on your customers’ browsing/purchase history as seen in the above example.

6. Mobile Optimization

This one goes without saying and doubles the fourth point above, which was on conciseness and speaking directly to the point.

Mobile email marketing glued with unmissable news and happenings cropped up with around 68% open on mobile devices, and here the role of having a friendly and responsive design is emphasized.

Responsive refers to how the screen movements affect elements such as text, images, link buttons, and calls to action.

7. Incorporating Testimonials/Social Proofs

Note that your clients will not be running after looking for your reviews if not by hearing about your brand from someone. And friends are trusted more than just some unknown brand they come across daily. How can you help such people, or make them hear and believe your story? Customer reviews, ratings, or even testimonials if included in the copy of your eCommerce informational emails increase its credibility.

It is very useful for those clients who are still in the process of deciding whether to do business with your company or not. For instance, when you say things like “Check out why 95% of our users love this brand” and accompany it with a picture of testimonials/reviews the level of trust that comes with the email increases tremendously.

Pro tip: Take the concept of context to the extreme and treat your email as a customized page directed to your customer. So when customers visit a landing page, what do you think they will do? What about cutting through the clutter that makes them sit up and take notes?

8. Brand Consistency

Every generality in your email should be in harmony with your brand’s voice and personality regarding language, the tone you choose, style, and even the images used wherever appropriate.

Usually, in the B2C markets, conversational and casual language is more suitable, especially for personal care products and brands that deal with apparel and fashion. This is because clients prefer that wording to get whatever they require.

Nevertheless, general B2B eCommerce products apply a rather serious and business-like approach to communication. However, when maintained it aids in rebuilding a familiar image of the brand which in turn helps in regaining trust. If it’s cheeky, serious, or stuffed with puns and jokes, keep that tone throughout communication.

9. Include Necessary Information

Don’t forget to apply some elementary rules such as using contact details, links to social resources, and call-to-action to unsubscribe.

This is not only in line with the recommendations on good practices but also gives the customers more confidence in the company and offers the customers something that can be helpful to them.

10. Test and Analyze

Yet sometimes even the most diligent effort to create the outstanding email copies may lead to failure. But certainly, we can build up gradually, which is the question: How? Variables tested when conducting A/B testing include various components of your email to find out what interests its recipients.

It is also important to test out the different subject lines, the general look of the email, and whether short and long copies should be sent or even the time of day it should be sent. The open rate must be measured and used in future optimization.

The click-through Rate must also be measured and used in future optimization, and the conversion rate must be measured and used in future optimization.