How To Use Automated Emails To Grow Your Ecommerce Store

What Is E-Commerce Email Automation?

According to research, ecommerce email automation is one of the biggest drivers of customer retention and acquisition. 

E-commerce email automation enables online store owners to send targeted messages/emails to build personalized and long-lasting relationships with past, present, and future prospects.

You can target people based on demographics, including age, gender, location, buying preferences, etc. With this information at hand, you can better design automated email campaigns to send the right message at the right time to the right recipient.

How Does Email Automation Work?

There are different email automation software available, with each one of them having its own unique features. However, the basic idea remains the same. 

A person visits an online store or a website. There he reads a book, download forms, or make a purchase. Their details are then added to the website’s marketing database.

Their data is then segmented based on their age, location, preferences, and gender. When a store owner or a marketer creates a marketing campaign, the person receives personalized emails based on the provided information and the conditions/campaign set by the marketer. 

Benefits Of Using E-Commerce Email Automation

Creating a personalized email campaign for each of your customers isn’t an easy thing. But you cannot send a single generic message to your entire email list. Keep in mind, that when recipients will find your messages irrelevant and uninteresting, they’ll opt out immediately without even giving a second thought.

Automated email campaigns enable you to send personalized messages to your segmented audiences and ensure you’re sending the right message to the right person.

Helps Keep Your Leads Engaged

Email automation allows you to nurture leads and establish long-term relationships for the purpose of making them an integral element of your marketing funnel (even if they’re not making a purchase right now).

With personalized emails, you can convince uncertain leads to invest in your products and services. 

Apart from that, you can also use attractive email templates to excite your audience about upcoming deals and discounts.

Personalization Leads To Higher Purchase Rate

With email automation, you can customize your market segments based on demographics to help you perfectly plan your next marketing campaign.

Studies reveal that personalized emails can result in 6x higher purchases than when you opt for a one-size-fits-all marketing module.

Helps Expand Your Email List

With thousands of businesses and retailers online, creating your individual space isn’t as easy as it may sound.

Since email automation significantly expands your market reach, you’ll get an opportunity to have lots of registered users and subscribers. 

Improves Customer Retention And Sales

Customers are the most valuable asset for any online business.

Whether you’re an experienced online seller or a beginner, customer retention must be your top priority. 

Retaining your loyal and happy customers is one of the best ways you can increase conversions and sales for your e-commerce store. 

Email automation in e-commerce keeps you constantly connected with your customers. You can send thank you emails and emails containing info about your upcoming launches and discounts to keep your existing customers engaged.

Helps Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate

Did you know the ratio of abandoned carts reached up to 70% back in 2019?

Email automation allows you to reduce this ratio by sending cart abandonment emails to those uncertain customers who added stuff to their carts but didn’t complete the checkout process due to some reason. 

You can even offer a discount or a deal in a follow-up cart abandonment email to help your buyers convert.

Email marketing automation will help you offer your incentives right after the customer has abandoned their carts.

Check our guide on “7 Proven Ways To Effectively Reduce Abandoned Checkouts" to learn how to effectively reduce the cart abandonment rate.

You Get A Higher ROI

The expected ROI for every dollar spent on an email campaign is roughly $40.
Despite the fact that emails are simple to create and send, they promise to deliver a great return on investment (which by the way isn’t the case if you opt for any other marketing channel).

You Deliver Better Customer Service

Customer service is key to a successful e-commerce marketing strategy. Email automation allows online store owners to maintain effective communication with their customers.

Whether it’s about sending cart abandonment emails to regain your buyer’s trust or notifying them about any ongoing deal or discount, automated emails can be your safest bid.

Research also reveals that 54% of customers prefer emails over any other communication channel. Also, 73% of customers love brands that have friendly customer representatives.

You Can Easily Integrate Your Other Marketing Efforts With Email Automation

Cross-channel marketing is the need of the hour. You can better target your customers when you integrate your other marketing endeavors with automated emails. 

For instance, you can invite your email subscribers to join your social media accounts. Since almost everyone today has a social media presence, it will help your e-store build a brand image without spending on paid ads. 

Popular Automated Emails Every E-Commerce Store Can Try!

No matter what industry you’re in, these triggered emails can help you increase engagement and sales.

Confirmation/Welcome Emails

When someone subscribes to your newsletter or contacts you via the contact form, you can send a confirmation email to welcome them officially. 

The purpose of the confirmation email is to notify the recipient that their sign-up request has been received and acknowledged. The welcome email, on the other hand, helps your business foster the newly created relationship.

Discount Emails

The purpose of discount emails is to let your customers know about any newly announced deal or discount scheme. 

Reminder Emails/Cart Abandonment Emails

As mentioned earlier, you can send reminder emails to those customers who have added products to their carts but didn’t complete the checkout process due to some reason.

Curated Emails

With curated emails, you can showcase your most popular products. Also, this type of email helps you segment your target audience based on their interests and preferences.

Order Confirmation Emails

Order confirmation emails, as their name suggests, are sent immediately after a customer completes a checkout process.

Birthday/Anniversary Emails

With birthday/anniversary emails, you can show your customers that you care. Add a free coupon or a cashback benefit, and they’ll remember this gesture for years to come.

Proven ECommerce Email Automation Strategies To Get More Sales

Segment Customers Based On Interests And Demographics

You must be aware of the fact that every customer is different. Unfortunately, only a few marketers create email automation strategies that target customers based on their preferences and demographics.

Market research and segmentation are key to a successful email automation strategy. 

Retarget Old Leads With Email Automation

E-commerce email automation not only helps you generate new leads, but you can also use this approach to reengage old leads that were once an integral element of your marketing funnel. 

Retargeting with convincing email copies can do wonders for your e-commerce store. You can even go through previous chat histories and databases to track their likes and preferences.

Personalize, Personalize, And Personalize

Market segmentation and personalization are factors that make your email marketing campaign stand out from the rest of the competition.

Although you can find hundreds of pre-built generic email templates that you can send out to your email list in a single click, it is recommended that you invest time and energy in curating email copies that are targeted to a specific group of customers.

VIP Automation

Customers who are loyal to your brand are a valuable asset for any online business. The biggest benefit of using email automation is to retain those VIP customers by sending targeted emails and special offers.

Create a loyalty program and invite your customers to become part of that program. Don’t forget to reward them in the end when they maintain consistent engagement with your website.

You can even provide early access to your exclusive products to let those VIP customers know how special and valuable they’re to your brand.

Integrate Social Media With E-commerce Email Automation

Cross-channel marketing, as discussed above, offers a plethora of benefits to e-commerce store owners. Instead of relying on a single channel, you can integrate different marketing channels with your email automation platform to boost sales and conversions.

Social media is one of those channels that are accessible by almost every single customer. That lends a great opportunity for your e-commerce store to encourage your email subscribers to join you on your social media profiles. 

Forward Relevant, High-Quality, And Optimized Content

Whether it’s about your website, emails, or social media profiles, optimized and relevant content is critical for the growth and success of an online store.

Know what type of content is best for your target audience. If you run a kid’s apparel store, your content should be fun and engaging to attract your target audience.

Similarly, if you’re selling vapes online, you can keep your tone formal and sophisticated. 

If you’re not comfortable handling email content on your own, you can also seek the help of a proficient and knowledgeable email copywriter to help you curate engaging and keyword-focused copies for your audience.

Conduct A/B Tests To Optimize Your Email Campaigns

Make sure you conduct A/B tests to optimize your automated email campaigns. Besides A/B testing, you can also test different variables with the help of e-commerce marketing.

While optimizing, keep your entire focus on your customers. Ask them to provide genuine feedback that can help you better identify their needs.

You can also send automated survey emails from time to time to know more about your customers.

Send Emails At The Right Time

No matter how well-written and optimized your email copy is, all of your efforts will go down the drain if you have sent it at the wrong time.

As a general rule, you should send your triggered emails when your prospects are likely to convert. 

Never send promotional emails when you’re already having an unresolved payment or delivery issue with your prospect. Always try to address the issue first so that your customers can better resonate with your brand and offers.

Make It Easy For People To Unsubscribe

This is one of the most important yet often neglected aspects. As an online seller, it is your responsibility to respect your subscriber’s time and decisions.

If they’re willing to opt out, make sure you provide them with a route to unsubscribe without any difficulty.

By doing so will also help filter out your list of subscribers, as after excluding uninterested people from your list, you’ll be left with those customers only who are actually interested in your product range and services. 

Aim For All Devices

Last but not least, as we always say, your website, emails, and all other marketing content should be optimized for both desktop and mobile devices, including tablets and smartphones.