Ecommerce Marketing 101: Email Marketing Basics for Consumer Brands

Running an online business can be challenging because of all of the competition now moving to digital sales. There are countless eCommerce marketing services available that can offer you an uptick in sales. One that has surefire success when appropriately implemented is an email marketing strategy. Shooting an email to anybody won’t give you great results, if any, so it’s crucial to plan out your strategy. In this blog, we’ll give you the basics on what platforms to use, how to build your strategy, and what analytics your business should be looking at for a successful campaign. 

How to Take Advantage of eCommerce Marketing Services

Choosing Your Platform

Email marketing is one of the most powerful eCommerce marketing services and can cost your business very little compared to the return. With many different platforms available, you have to choose which one best suits your wants and needs for your business. Almost all email marketing platforms offer templates to customize, allow you to upload your mailing list, and segment those subscribers to specific lists. Here are three of the most popular email marketing platforms:

• Klaviyo: Unlike most platforms, Klaviyo was designed to capture the data of customers from eCommerce sites. The platform then uses this information to build personalized email campaigns. Klaviyo is a great option to pair with a Shopify eCommerce website. Klaviyo is highly customizable and offers a completely automated marketing system to send out emails and develop ads. 
• Mailchimp: Mailchimp is an excellent option for small to medium-sized businesses and has gained traction mainly for its easy-to-use features. There are templates for email campaigns for you to customize, and you can include third-party tools such as Shopify or BigCommerce. In addition, before you send an email, you can check the spam score, send test emails, and use geo-targeting. 
• Constant Contact: Constant Contact is user-friendly and offers a live chat option if you are ever stuck while creating your email. You can run surveys, send coupons, add videos, and send invitations. They also offer extensive training materials, which can be helpful for those learning as they are creating their campaigns. Constant Contact is a great beginner platform, but it’s not the best option for dynamic eCommerce strategies. 

Developing Your Email Marketing Strategy

After you have decided on a platform that you and your marketing team feel comfortable with, it’s time to develop your email marketing strategy. You should answer these questions when creating your campaign:

1. What kind of emails do we want to send?
2. How often do we want to send emails out?
3. How will we measure the success of our campaign?
4. What exactly will our campaign look like?

The answers to these questions will be different for every company in various industries. For example, an eCommerce company can send abandoned cart emails when users leave the website without purchasing what they put into their cart. Companies can also offer special discounts to subscribers or set up a referral program. Below are a few other examples that could work across industries:

• Newsletters
• Welcome emails
• Milestone emails
• New product announcements
• Confirmation emails

A great place to start can be sending out emails twice a month, and if you see a great response, increase it to weekly. No one wants to come off as a spam email, but subscribers will not feel that way if you offer valuable information.

Tracking Your Success

Before sending out any emails, you’ll have to determine what success means to your business. It can mean more sales directly from emails, or it could mean an increased open rate. Setting the parameters before your campaign is off the ground will allow you and your team to develop realistic goals. Then, if you notice throughout the campaign that you aren’t reaching the goal, you can start adjusting. Using a data-driven approach will allow you to measure your success and understand where you may be going wrong. Take a look at these three indicators that you can use to track your success:

• Open rate: This is the most basic type of measurement when it comes to email marketing. It will provide you with clear answers as to how many users are opening your emails. This is a piece of information that all emailing platforms will offer to you.
• Click-through rate (CTR): The CTR measures how many users are clicking on your website through your email, which is the entire goal of a marketing campaign. It will show you how enticing your messaging, language, and graphics are to your subscribers. 
• Conversion rate: To track the conversion rate, you will need to determine if the user clicked on your call-to-action and then followed through with the purchase. This piece of information will display how many more sales you are generating through your email marketing. 

An email marketing strategy includes various working pieces and can be a valuable asset to any company.