Email Marketing for Small-Medium ECommerce Businesses

Nothing is a better indicator of a successful marketing campaign than a high conversion rate. Great marketing is absolutely crucial to all brands, and small-medium ECommerce companies are no exception. There is a gap in the market for ECommerce marketing as email hosting isn’t offered by Shopify or other web commerce platforms.

The building of effective email lists with exclusive access is key to putting you ahead of your competitors, building valuable and close relationships with your clients as well as adding value to your product or service. There are many different styles of campaigns and triggers to get your email marketing firing on all cylinders and upping your conversion rates to their maximum potential.

Lead Magnets to Boost Your Email List

You build your email list from customers that have either purchased products or services from you already or have expressed interest by responding to your website or subscribing to your newsletters. These customers should be treated as VIPs - they have provided you contact details and data which any campaign can be structured around. How can you boost your email list? Well, once you have traffic to your site you should use lead magnets to tempt prospective clients to subscribe or sign up to receive marketing emails.

Instead of simply asking them to subscribe, offer a tasty morsel such as some free content or compelling copy outlining one of your flagship products or services. Tailored for your target demographic this can convert traffic to data for your email list. Below is an example of a lead magnet in the form of a social media and content calendar from CleverReach. They have recently launched in Australia and so they have created a localised offering that will be of value to potential customers who may work in marketing or run ECommerce businesses.

Lifecycle Marketing

Now you have your email list built up, it’s time to deploy some winning strategies to boost your conversion rates. Lifecycle marketing is an ideal way to do this - by providing your audience with the kind of expertly tailored communications and experiences they want (or need, or just like) you can help them on their journey from prospects to customers then, ideally, to brand evangelists. To be a master of lifecycle marketing you must perfect the stages - Attract, Sell and WOW. You must have a thorough and incisive understanding of your target demographic, and be prepared to work on fostering long term relationships with a loyal clientele.

Once you’ve identified your target group and gained a genuine understanding of their needs and wants, you can go about creating great content like ebooks, infographics, videos, webinars, and blog posts - these are all superb ways to attract customers from your email list. To convert attraction into a sale you must make sure you educate the potential customers about your service or product - show them that you’re the best option to fulfil their needs with a consistent, clear and concise marketing campaign - make sure you keep it interactive. Once you’ve closed the deal it’s time to bowl them over with customer services and a campaign to make them loyal customers (rewards schemes for further business or referrals).

Drip Campaigns

Another way to boost conversion rates for your small or medium ECommerce company is to use drip campaigns - that is the slow release of product communications via email over a pre-determined period of time. This effectively keeps your brand visible to prospective customers on your email list and can be structured to maximize the impact of different aspects of your product or service. It’s a way of reeling in business over a long stretch of time, during which the prospect gets to know your company and familiarize themselves with your brand. Drip campaigns can be effectively combined with social media or other forms of marketing and should offer exclusive content, reward systems for new customers and loyalty schemes for repeat customers.

Using your email list to provide prospects and customers with engaging content and strong branding will keep your ECommerce company visible and potent - a great step towards boosting your conversion rates!