Why Email Marketing Is Important for E-Commerce Businesses
By 2023, email marketing revenue is expected to break $10 billion annually.¹ While email is one of several effective marketing channels available to e-commerce businesses, a case could be made for the most effective channel.
You know how to build an email marketing campaign, but here we’ll discuss why email marketing is important, and the 10 benefits of email marketing. And, we go over email marketing versus social media, Facebook ads, and SMS marketing. Keep in mind that each benefit provides a means to increase sales and satisfy customers, both helping to grow your e-commerce business.
Why Use Email Marketing for E-Commerce
At its core, email marketing brings all used marketing channels together to create an integrated buyer’s journey for customers. Because of its portability, email marketing lets you reach your customers wherever they are when they have a chance to read emails. Your messages stay in their inbox until deleted by the subscriber. This raises the odds of an open, click-through, or forward to a potential customer. Emails have staying power compared to other channels.
Why Email Marketing is Effective for E-commerce Businesses
You know why you use email marketing, but do you know how effective it is? 59 percent of consumers say marketing emails can influence their purchasing decisions.
With millions of people checking inboxes multiple times per day, it’s understandable why email marketing is effective. It allows e-commerce businesses of all sizes to develop brand awareness; build credibility; and establish relationships with customers.
10 Benefits of Email Marketing for E-Commerce
Forty-six percent of consumers prefer a business to contact them through email.² These 10 benefits reinforce why email marketing is important for small businesses.
1. Increase Your Conversion Rate
One of the leading reasons why email marketing is important for a small business is conversions. Or in this case, conversion rates. Email allows an e-commerce business to be personal in each message, and tell a story. Consumers respond to personalization, whether it’s using their name in the subject line or offering a similar product or service. When customers feel acknowledged and/or understood, they’re more likely to convert into repeat customers.
2. Nurture Leads More Easily
Every e-commerce email reader has different needs and desires. It’s key to give them the right information at the right time. Lead nurturing helps you retain and convert these readers into loyal customers. Email is a good avenue for sharing existing content, such as blogs, that can help a customer learn more about the product or service. Or, sharing a calendar link to schedule a demo based on their availability.
Keep in mind everyone who signs up for your emails isn’t ready to make a purchase. But, by providing them with the information they want, when they want, these readers are more likely to turn into a customer.
3. Boost Customer Retention and Sales
The flexibility of email campaigns can be a boon for customer retention and sales. Whether you send an abandoned cart reminder a few hours later or offer a subscribers-only discount, they’re perfect for a sales opportunity. Encourage a purchase in the email as an email subscriber is more likely to buy from your e-commerce business. Segmenting your contact list and creating personalized emails based on previous engagements tells customers you know them and their preferences.
4. Improve Customer Service
When it comes to customer service, consumer expectations have changed. If a customer reaches out in need of assistance via email, they expect a reply within 48 hours. But, they’re looking for more than a simple reply, whether it’s been stated or not.
To provide a customer-centric experience beyond solving an issue, use the time to give more value. Consumers want to be heard, understood, and valued. This could be sending a post-purchase follow-up email to a customer who opted in. The added value comes from showing you care about more than a sale. It’s a chance to earn feedback and continue the conversation while building a relationship.
5. Capture Abandoned Purchases
Three out of four online shoppers put items in an online cart and then walk away. Whether the shopper is busy, distracted, or well-meaning, the sale isn’t entirely lost. Sending an abandoned cart email or two could be the nudge or reminder they need to complete the purchase. Email marketing and automation workflows within your CRM give an e-commerce business a major advantage in capturing abandoned carts.
6. Engage Customers More Easily
When someone subscribes to your email updates, they’re willing to hear all about your company. This could be behind-the-scenes stories, early event announcements, new blogs, and so on. Customers have multiple opportunities to engage, learn more, and hopefully make a purchase. Or, you could invite them to engage through a post-purchase survey.
7. Boost Return On Investment of Marketing
Of all the marketing channels available, email provides a high return on investment — $44 for every $1 spent. In a highly competitive space like e-commerce, it’s crucial to have a positive return. The customization and flexibility afforded by email marketing let you create, test, then fine-tune many types of campaigns that resonate with your existing and potential customers. The more you understand about your target audiences, the better you can provide them a solution to a want or need. This increases the odds they’ll return to your e-commerce business for that solution.
8. Improve Customer Experience With Feedback and Surveys
With a growing emphasis on adding value to each interaction, questionnaires and surveys are a great way to find out what the customer experience is like. Customer satisfaction surveys provide direct insight from customers on areas your business excels at and areas in need of improvement. By sending these surveys through email, customers can fill them out on their time.
9. Email Marketing Is Easy To Begin
While devising a plan and campaign strategy takes time and effort, on the whole, it’s easy to start with email marketing. CRMs allow you to build automated workflows based on the customer journey or actions taken on your website. Templates or drag and drop editors let you quickly design an email. Then, email data and metrics are easy to track, allowing for adjustments to better reach your customers.
10. Contact List Ownership
While social media has flash and flair, the platform itself makes the rules. Algorithm changes can sink your brand visibility nearly overnight. Whereas with email marketing, once a reader opts in, they’ll receive your messages until they opt-out. Another benefit is ownership of your contact list. This means if you change email platforms, you can take everyone with you. This saves time and money from having to rebuild a readership.
How Does Email Marketing Compare to Other Marketing Strategies?
Remember that other e-commerce businesses may lean on other marketing strategies and meet their goals. But their goals may differ from yours, meaning their mileage may vary with different channels.
Email Marketing vs Social Media
Social media piques the interest in your company. Email marketing engages, retains, and grows your customer base. But, it isn’t necessarily email marketing versus social media. Together these marketing channels can build a customer pipeline.
Given its popularity and availability, social media helps attract potential customers to your company. It also defines your brand, as it’s often the first encounter customers have with you. On the other hand, email marketing strengthens existing relationships and gives more focus to loyal customers.
Using social media posts to announce email-only content or deals is a good way to drive email sign-ups.
Email Marketing vs Facebook Ads
If your marketing budget needs you to make a choice of email marketing vs Facebook ads, remember the ease to start email marketing. We’ve discussed how email marketing has a low entry barrier in terms of cost.
While Facebook ads are great for driving awareness and engagement, email converts. Two-thirds of consumers said they’ve bought a product or service due to email marketing. Only one in five said the same about viewing a Facebook ad.
Email Marketing vs SMS Marketing
Though SMS, or text message, marketing has a higher read rate than email — 42 percent³ — it can be too invasive for some consumers. But when working in conjunction, email and SMS can create a regular communication channel with customers.
One example is sending a purchase confirmation via email and shipping and delivery updates via SMS. Since confirmations can have a lot of important information, an email is more likely to be kept in the customer’s inbox. Whereas, shipping and delivery information can be concise, making it perfect for SMS.
5 Ways That Show Why Email Marketing Is Effective
1. Send A Welcome Email Series
Having two to three welcome emails ready to send out after someone signs up is good for three reasons. First, it’s a chance for the new reader to get to know your company. Maybe you have an elevator pitch for why your e-commerce business does what it does. That’s a great way to introduce your company.
Second, welcome emails let you set future expectations. This could be as straightforward as telling the reader how many times per month they can expect an email.
Finally, if you have several product lines, offer your new reader a short survey. This may be what product line they’d most likely buy or want to learn more about. The answer(s) here can be easily segmented, giving you quantitative data as to what information is best to provide them.
2. Offer Special Discounts Or Rewards To Repeat Customers
As an e-commerce business, you already know which customers fall into these five common categories:
First-time;
Potential;
Repeat;
Recent; and
Lapsed.
Every customer has the potential to be a repeat or even loyal. Yet, reaching out to those who’ve shopped more than once is the easiest way to build a fan club of sorts. Even though there may be hundreds of people on this list, the feeling of exclusivity will help strengthen and grow their relationship with your business.
3. Prune Your Email Contact List
It sounds counterproductive, but removing email addresses from your contact list is a good way to improve effectiveness. Set baselines, such as removing all bounced or suspended addresses within the last six months. Since unopened emails directly impact effectiveness, decide how many unopened emails a subscriber can have before removal. Keep in mind these emails could be good candidates for a re-engagement campaign.
4. Let Readers Know When An Item Is Back In Stock
In-demand items sometimes go out of stock, especially with supply chain issues that are out of your control. But giving customers the option to sign up for an in-stock alert is great for engagement and relationship building. Plus, these alerts help build a fear of missing out, allowing customers to get what they want and you to earn a sale.
5. Responsive, Well-Designed Emails Create A Good Customer Experience
The better a customer’s experience, the more likely they are to become a repeat customer. Since more than one in three emails are opened on a mobile device, it’s crucial to optimize for mobile.⁴ Mobile-friendly emails are:
Visually appealing;
Easy to understand; and
Capture the reader’s interest.
Simply, they give the reader what they want and an easy way to complete an action, such as a purchase, from their mobile device.
Discover Why Email Marketing Is Important in Your E-Commerce Business
Email marketing offers many benefits to your e-commerce business in the short- and long-term. Defining your key performance indicators (KPIs) before a campaign begins is key to knowing what’s working and what’s not down the road. Although it may take a little time to begin, the return on investment of a well-planned and executed e-commerce email marketing campaign is worth the effort.
The Winbox offers expert consultations for email marketing, along with all-in-one services such as email automation setup and email account audits. We love to see our clients grow and scale their e-commerce businesses with email marketing.
Contact us today to learn how The Winbox can help you!
¹ https://www.statista.com/topics/1446/e-mail-marketing/#topicOverview
² https://www.statista.com/statistics/1263298/business-messaging-channels-preferred-by-smartphone-users-worldwide/
³ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1209755/commercial-message-read-rate-consumers-us/
⁴ https://www.statista.com/statistics/709596/most-used-e-mail-platform-by-market-share/
