From welcome to win-back: The essential e-commerce email flows
In the world of e-comm, email marketing remains one of THE most effective ways to engage with customers and drive sales. However, it’s almost guaranteed that your customers are being bombarded by emails on a daily basis (have you seen the state of your own promotions tab in your email inbox?!) - which means it’s essential to create emails that stand out from the crowd.
Stick with us as we explore the key components of effective e-commerce emails - and show you some great examples of brands doing it right.
Get that email address
The very first step to kicking off your email marketing strategy is getting an email address. There’s plenty of ways you could go about this, but the two most effective methods are through website pop-ups and embedded forms.
Website pop-ups are an excellent way to grab your visitors’ attention and encourage them to sign up for your mailing list. However, it’s important to be specific about what the offer is and the type of communication they will be receiving. Here’s a good example: “Get 10% off your first order when you sign up for our mailing list. You’ll also be the first to know about new releases and special offers.” Make sure you capture first names alongside the emails, so you can personalise your emails in your email series (more on that later).
For those who make the quick decision to close the pop-up without submitting their details - but later decide they want to get their hands on that discount code (we’ve all been there!), an embedded form is the way to go. Include a banner or insert an embedded form into the footer of your website to give visitors another chance to sign up.
Go with the (email) flow
Once you’ve got their details, it’s time to start sending out emails. The four most important email flows for e-commerce businesses are the welcome series, abandoned cart series, post-purchase series, and win-back series.
Welcome series
Like the name suggests, this series is triggered when people join your mailing list for the first time after signing up. Here’s how you should step this out:
Email #1: Send this right after signing up, with a welcome note and any discount codes you’ve promised.
Email #2: Now, share a little more about your company and what makes your products unique. People are more likely to buy from you if they’re connected to your brand and story, so don’t be shy about talking about your journey and where you started. Now’s the perfect time to ask people to follow you on social media here, to see more content like this.
Email #3: Reminder your subscribers to use the discount code before it expires (if they haven’t already).
Email #4: Let them hear from others. Share some social proof in the form of reviews and testimonials from your loyal customers - because nothing’s more convincing than hearing from your past customers.
Abandoned cart series
You’ve likely seen an abandoned cart email (or two) in your time - they’re those emails that remind you about the products in your cart and entice you to come back and purchase.
Email #1: Send this 2-4 hours after abandonment and should include the abandoned product in the email. Keep it simple, and personalise the subject line with their name to grab attention.
Email #2: Send this 24 hours after the first and should be a little more sales-focused.
Email #3: Remove common blockers to purchase. Let them know that you offer free delivery, or payment options such as Afterpay. It’s also a good idea to include social proof in the form of customer reviews in this email.
Post-purchase series
Post-purchase emails are often purely transactional, including order, shipping, and delivery confirmations - but they don’t have to be. You’ve just gained a new customer, so it’s the perfect opportunity to leave a lasting impression! Make sure these emails match your branding and include a thank you message. After the product has been delivered, ask customers to leave a review, which you can then use in your other email campaigns as you’ll have plenty of reviews to choose from.
Top tip: For extra brownie points, include a personalised or heartfelt thank you message from the founder, to show your customers that you appreciate them.
Win-back series
It’s far cheaper to maximise your revenue from your current customer than to acquire new ones - so a win-back series is a must-have! This series includes automated emails to reach out to customers that have become inactive. They should be sent after a period of months (or years), depending on your purchase cycle.
Your first email should be more of a check-in, reminding the customer why they purchased with you in the first place and letting them know about what’s new - any new products, services or business updates. Some choose to include a discount code, but beware - you don’t want to train your customers to expect a discount if they stay inactive and try to hack the system.
From here your emails should split into two branches:
The people who opened the first email but didn’t purchase; and
The people who didn’t open the first email
If your first email didn’t get people over the line, give them an incentive - this could be a percentage discount or code for a fixed $ amount. A/B test your emails, to find out which subject lines and discounts are the most compelling.
Your final email should remind customers about the incentive if they haven’t made a purchase, and make sure it has a time limit in order to create some urgency.
Top tips for your email platform
Make the most of personalised emails
Most email platforms now offer some form of dynamic content and machine learning to enhance your email sends. Customers expect more personalisation these days, so make the most of it to improve your performance.
Dynamic content. Forget just personalising a customer's name - you can take this a step further and customise whole blocks of content based upon certain behaviours of the recipient - e.g. display items from pages they have viewed.
Dynamic discount codes. Platforms like Klaviyo make it easy to create one-time-use codes so that each recipient receives their own unique code, preventing it from being shared with others.
Dynamic sending. Get higher open rates with dynamic sending. Emails will still be sent after a specified action or time frame, but at a time of day your recipients are most likely to open.
Test and learn
Don’t just set and forget - regularly review your emails, and check the results of any A/B tests. Keep an eye on your open rates too, and if they start to drop off it may be time to switch up your subject lines.
Email marketing is a powerful tool for e-commerce businesses to engage with customers and drive sales. We know it can be a bit of a minefield sometimes, often dropping to the bottom of the to-do list. We specialise in helping e-commerce businesses create effective email marketing campaigns that drive results. Contact us today to learn more and take your e-commerce business to the next level!
