How To Increase Sales: Email Marketing & Automation

Automation emails are really to potential customers that are interested in your product already. They abandoned the actions because of various situations in their lives. The email is just a gentle reminder to say....Hello, are you still interested.

How many times have you clicked on such an email because you were interrupted but still wanted the product.

The first step is to make sure your email automations is set up correctly and in the right time sequence. 

Types of email automation for ecommerce

Here are different types of automations to set up:

• Welcome series: Send a sequence of emails to welcome new subscribers and introduce them to your brand and offer a discount on their next order.
• Abandoned cart reminders: Reach out to customers who have left items in their shopping cart without completing their purchase.
• Post-purchase follow-ups: Engage customers after a purchase to solicit feedback, offer complementary products, or encourage repeat business.
• Re-engagement campaigns: Reconnect with inactive subscribers to reignite their interest in your brand and products.
• Promotional and seasonal campaigns: Send timely promotions and offers based on holidays, seasons, or special events.

But there are more:

• Abandoned checkout reminders: These are triggered when a customer adds items to their cart and begins the checkout process but doesn't complete the purchase.
• Abandoned Browser: Visitors who have spent a significant amount of time on your website but haven't added any items to their cart.
• Abandoned Product reminders: Customers who have viewed specific products multiple times without adding them to their cart or making a purchase.

Steps to Set Up Email Automation for Your Ecommerce Store

To set up email automation, follow these steps:

Step 1. Choose an email marketing platform that integrates with your ecommerce store and supports automation, such as Omisend, Klaviyo, or any other.

Step 2. Create goals and determine the purpose of your email automation, such as increasing sales, building brand loyalty, or re-engaging inactive customers.

Step 3. Segment your audience and categorize your subscribers based on their preferences, behavior, or demographics to send targeted and relevant messages.

Step 4. Create your email sequences and craft a series of emails for each automation, including engaging subject lines, compelling content, and clear calls-to-action (CTAs).

Step 5. Set up triggers and conditions and configure the specific actions or events that will initiate your automated email sequences, such as a new subscription, abandoned cart, or product purchase.

Step 6. Test and optimize and monitor the performance of your email automation, analyze the results, and make adjustments to improve engagement and conversion rates.

Best Practices for Email Frequency and Sequence Length

When setting up your email automation, it's crucial to strike the right balance between engaging your audience and overwhelming them. Consider the following best practices for determining email frequency and sequence length:

• Welcome series: Typically, 3-5 emails sent over the course of 1-2 weeks work well. Start by sending a welcome email immediately after subscription, followed by additional emails that introduce your brand, showcase your products, and offer incentives for making a purchase.
• Abandoned cart reminders: Send 2-3 emails at strategic intervals, such as 1 hour, 24 hours, and 72 hours after the cart abandonment. This ensures you stay top-of-mind without becoming too intrusive.
• Post-purchase follow-ups: Limit this sequence to 2-4 emails, depending on the nature of your products and customer journey. Send the first email a few days after delivery to ensure customer satisfaction, followed by additional emails that offer support, upsells, or cross-sells.
• Re-engagement campaigns: A series of 2-3 emails over 2-4 weeks can help re-engage inactive subscribers. Include personalized content, special offers, or incentives to encourage them to interact with your brand again.
• Promotional and seasonal campaigns: The frequency and length of these campaigns will vary depending on the event or promotion. However, avoid overwhelming subscribers with daily emails, and instead, aim for 1-2 emails per week leading up to the event or promotion.
• Abandoned Checkout Reminders: Send the first email within 1-2 hours of abandonment, followed by another 24 hours later, and a final reminder after 48-72 hours
• Abandoned Browsing Automation: Send the first email within 24 hours of the browsing session, followed by a second email 2-3 days later if the customer hasn't returned to your store.
• Abandoned Product Emails: Send the first email within 24-48 hours of the customer's last visit to the product page, followed by a second email 3-5 days later if they haven't made a purchase.

How to prevent customers from unsubscribing

Striking the right balance is crucial for maintaining an engaged email list and ensuring the long-term success of your email marketing campaigns. 

Understanding the Root Cause of Subscriber Irritation

Customers may unsubscribe from your email list for several reasons, including:

• Excessive emails in a short period can overwhelm subscribers and make them feel spammed.
• Sharing content that doesn't resonate with your audience can result in disinterest and disengagement.
• Failing to tailor your email marketing to individual preferences can lead to a poor customer experience.

How to Prevent Irritation and Unsubscribes

By implementing the following best practices, you can minimize irritation and unsubscribes from your email list:

• Segment your subscribers based on their preferences, behavior, or demographics to send targeted and relevant content.
• Address subscribers by their first name and include content that caters to their interests, needs, or past purchases.
• Find the sweet spot between maintaining regular communication and overwhelming subscribers with too many emails.
• Regularly analyze your email campaign performance to identify trends and adjust your strategy accordingly.
• Allow subscribers to manage their email preferences, such as frequency and content type, so they receive the emails they're most interested in.

3. Embracing the Natural Evolution of Your Email List

While it's essential to make efforts to retain subscribers, it's also crucial to recognize that some unsubscribes are a natural part of managing an email list. Losing some subscribers can even be beneficial, as it helps:

• Maintain a healthy list: Unengaged subscribers can negatively impact your email deliverability and open rates, so removing them from your list can improve overall performance.
• Ensure accurate metrics: With a more engaged audience, you can better understand the effectiveness of your campaigns and make data-driven decisions.
• Focus on your core audience: Unsubscribes can help you identify the subscribers who are genuinely interested in your brand and products, allowing you to concentrate your efforts on those most likely to convert.

Email automation is crucial for ecommerce stores as it saves time and effort, improves customer engagement, and drives sales. Setting up email automation involves selecting a platform, defining goals, segmenting the audience, creating email sequences, setting up triggers, and optimizing the strategy. Types of email automation include welcome series, abandoned cart reminders, post-purchase follow-ups, re-engagement campaigns, and promotional campaigns. The email frequency and sequence length depend on the type of automation and the customer journey.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I set up email automation for my ecommerce store?

• Choose an email marketing platform that supports automation and integrates with your ecommerce store.
• Define your email automation goals and objectives.
• Segment your audience for targeted messaging.
• Create email sequences with engaging content and CTAs.
• Set up triggers and conditions for automated emails.
• Test and optimize your email automation strategy.

What types of email automation can I implement for my ecommerce store?

• Welcome series
• Abandoned cart reminders
• Post-purchase follow-ups
• Re-engagement campaigns
• Promotional and seasonal campaigns
• Abandoned Checkout Reminders
• Abandoned Browsing Automation
• Abandoned Product Emails

How many emails should I include in each automation, and how frequently should I send them?

Welcome series: 3-5 emails over 1-2 weeks

Abandoned cart reminders: 2-3 emails at intervals of 1 hour, 24 hours, and 72 hours

Post-purchase follow-ups: 2-4 emails depending on your products and customer journey

Re-engagement campaigns: 2-3 emails over 2-4 weeks

Promotional and seasonal campaigns: 1-2 emails per week leading up to the event or promotion

Abandoned Checkout Reminders: Within 1-2 hours of abandonment, then 24 hours and 48-72 hours later.

Abandoned Browsing Automation: Within 24 hours of the browsing session, followed by 2-3 days later.

Abandoned Product Emails: Within 24-48 hours of the customer's last visit to the product page, and 3-5 days later.

Thank you! I appreciate you and the time you took out of your day to read this! You can find more articles like this from me on the top-rated {E-commerce Success} blog and while you’re there, take a look at my Shopify Bootcamp coming up, and my Shopify and E-commerce series of books on Amazon. For news and insights find me on Twitter at @veronicajeans, to see what I do when I’m not working, follow me on Instagram and to discover my E-commerce Success community.

If you want to learn more about Ecommerce and Shopify — check out my new 2023 books on my website: www.veronicajeans.com

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