E-commerce has taken a great leap forward lately, as businesses have had no choice but to go digital quickly to continue selling despite the closure of stores. So for a lot of people, it’s a whole new concept, and to help you, here are some efficient email strategies you need to implement.
1. Current promotions
Any company doing business online has some promotions to run at some point. Well, these promotions should be sent to all your contacts to increase your sales. The simplest and most efficient way to share everything? E-mails, of course. But you can also easily send them via other channels such as SMS or mobile/Web push notifications if this allows you to reach more people. On the other hand, I would tell you that the channel to prioritize for this kind of message would be good old email, because of the possibilities that the format offers, but again, it all depends on what your database looks like.
The nice thing about email is that you can be more creative than with other channels because of the format and the many content possibilities. Especially when sharing promotions, you can get wild and add fun elements like barcodes or countdowns to create excitement around your online promotion. The Dialog Insight platform allows you to do all sorts of original things like these, just explore its many options.
Besides, it allows you to personalize your offers. It’s all well and good to make a promotion, but you may not want to send the same offer to all your contacts. This would be recommended if you want to maximize your gains with this promotion. Indeed, each customer is different and has a different price sensitivity threshold. That’s why segmenting your customers according to this threshold (based on how much they’ve bought in the last six months or their loyalty, for example) is a very good idea. By sending the same offer to everyone, you risk losing potential buyers who are a little more price-sensitive and conversely, lose an opportunity to make more money with less price-sensitive people.
We can never say it enough, in e-commerce, personalization is the key to success. And if you’re new in the field, personalizing your promotional mailings is a fairly simple way to get started and you can add more complexity over time as you become more comfortable with the concept and tool.
2. Product recommendation
Let’s stick to the theme of marketing automation and talk about product recommendations. The nice thing about selling your products online is that technology is much more effective at recommending complementary products than your in-store salespeople (nothing personal).
Don’t get me wrong, I find that receiving exceptional 1-to-1 in-store service is very valuable, but it involves taking time with each customer, whereas with online product recommendations, it’s instantaneous and you can recommend products to many more customers at the same time. Moreover, in the case of e-commerce, the recommendations are thought within a much broader strategy that brings together several other actions together to lead to the next purchase and then, to loyalty, and this, without any effort or salary to pay (once the sequence is created)!
Finally, with a tool like Dialog Insight, not only can you execute this strategy, but you can also collect a ton of information about each customer such as what interests them, how they act when they’re on your website, their purchase history, and so on. In short, you will have access to all the information necessary for your product recommendation strategy, so that you can make the most interesting recommendations for each client. Besides, a person who has just completed a purchase will be more receptive to your suggestions, especially if they are based on what the person likes.
Combine this strategy with the first one by including, in this email, a discount on a future purchase to encourage them to buy from you again and thus, quietly lead them towards loyalty to your brand.
3. Online exclusivity
This strategy is more of a distribution strategy but you should still communicate it by email and on your other platforms. So if you have a lot of products and you also sell in physical stores, consider making exclusive products online. This allows you to create a buzz around certain products as they are only available online. It’s like being in a privileged circle and it has a lot to do with consumer buying behavior. Also, it can play a certain role regarding their attachment to your brand.
The concept of exclusivity is something very rewarding and makes us feel more special. It’s a strategy that relies on the emotions of your customers and we know that when you appeal to emotions, it tends to be good for brands.
Online exclusivity can apply to products but also promotions. You could do a promotion online only and therefore if your customers want to take advantage of it, they will have to buy on the website or the mobile application. Of course, the other way around is also possible: you could make a discount only available in store. It’s a bit of a balancing act, we don’t want you to give up your shops, not at all… but to use the strengths of both locations to maximize your profits.
4. Shopping cart abandonment reminder
Shopping cart abandonment reminders should be among the first emails you implement in your E-Commerce strategy. Why? Simple, because they work!
Think about it: a person who puts products in their shopping cart is very interested and is therefore very close to making a purchase. If he leaves without buying, it’s probably because something dissuaded her from doing so. Your job right now is to figure out what. There are many possible causes:
- The total price is too high;
- Currency conversion is not advantageous;
- Transport costs are too high;
- Delivery time is too long;
- The difficulty of returning products if they are not suitable;
- The fear that the product isn’t really as it appears in the pictures;
- Technical issues;
- And several others that we don’t necessarily think about…
To obtain this answer and to be able to rectify the situation, you have two options:
- You proceed in 2 steps and send an email to ask the reason for abandoning the cart so that you can improve this in the future. Then, depending on the reason given, you send a discount, offer free shipping, offer express shipping at the price of regular shipping, or inform them about return policies. This way, you can make an offer adapted to the needs of your prospect. Who knows, maybe you’ll be surprised by the main reason for global abandonment. On the other hand, you take the risk that the person won’t respond to your first email and so the relationship ends here. At this point, to prevent this from happening, you might want to try the next option…
- This option consists of not asking for the reason and send a discount directly to all your prospects (assuming the main reason is price-related), along with the details of your return policy in the same email to cover as many reasons as possible. So you eliminate one step and can reach more people that way. On the other hand, you have less knowledge of your weaknesses and cannot improve your weak points at this level.
These are 2 techniques that work very well, and each one is suitable for different business needs. One allows you to collect interesting information and to make a precise offer to avoid losses (by giving a discount to everyone when it may not be the reason for the abandonment). The other allows you to reach everyone directly but without adapting your offer and without gathering information that could be useful to improve your strategies and remove friction points. It all depends on the level of customization desired. And as mentioned in point one, a mix of both solutions may be a good strategy to adopt.
In any case, it is one of the best ways to change the minds of those who left without asking for the rest. Cart abandonment reminders get an open rate of 40.5% and a conversion rate (click-to-purchase) of 28.7%. These are excellent results you certainly don’t want to miss. And this is besides the fact that these are, once again, automated messages. Once they are implemented, you have nothing more to do than to collect the results!
5. Transaction confirmation
Ok. Maybe I’m stating the obvious here. But we can’t talk about E-Commerce without mentioning it. Any online transaction system must send a confirmation email to its clients to provide them with a summary of their order and information on delivery terms. This is the minimum to do to reassure clients after an online purchase.
Besides, it plays an important role in creating a sense of belonging to your brand. If you include this point in your transaction confirmation email, your customers, who will have been well treated, will want to come back to you for the next purchase.
6. Transaction followup
This point complements the previous one. To be able to continue the relationship with a buyer, you must keep in touch and continue to treat him or her with good care, even after a purchase. It’s crucial! A customer who feels abandoned after his purchase will not be inclined to buy back from the same place. On the other hand, a customer who has received exceptional service before, during, and after the purchase will want to come back and shop with you and even recommend you to others. And that’s very precious!
Do everything you can to make your customers want to talk about you and have ambassadors recommending your brand everywhere. Who would say no to free publicity? So that’s where it starts, by showing that you care about your customers and that they are important to you. And the best way to demonstrate this is to keep it going, to continue to offer the best experience even after the purchase. You’ll be a winner every time!
7. Product rating
Are you one of those who look at product reviews before buying? These are useful for many buyers, especially now that we have several options online for the same type of product. These evaluations are what allow these many options to be easily compared with each other. This is also what distinguishes you (mainly) from your competitors with your prospects who are not yet attached to your brand.
This is reflected in practice because 76% of consumers consider product rating as their second source of influence to make a purchase. Moreover, products with a client evaluation get 10% more sales.
Ask your clients to give feedback on their purchase to stimulate sales and engagement. In the case of negative feedback, take the necessary actions to ensure your client’s satisfaction. Make sure not to erase negative reviews, as they are part of your online credibility. Instead, add a positive comment showing that you care and are willing to find a solution for your client’s satisfaction.
Conclusion
Whether you’re just starting in e-commerce or you’ve been around for a while, there are several options available to strengthen your existing strategies. Whether it’s product recommendations, shopping cart abandonment reminders, or transaction follow-ups… these are all very effective strategies that you should consider implementing quickly.
What’s more, the fact that they are all automated saves you time, money, and new customers who can become loyal ambassadors over time because of those strategies!
