5 Email Marketing Tips To Get Your Customers Shopping

In an Internet era, email has become one of the most personal ways for brands to connect with their customers. Today’s tools let businesses monitor how shoppers interact with their products and websites and create customized messages that get their attention. Some have said email is on the way out as social media and text messaging take center stage. In the case of e-commerce marketing, however, that is far from the truth.

How does your brand make the most of the messages you send to customers? This guide will help you create a great email list and put that list to use in generating sales for your business.

1. Collect Emails

Your email marketing campaign starts with your list of recipients. It’s important to set up a way to capture email addresses on your business website. Pop-up boxes can be hard to ignore, which means you’ll be more likely to add names to your list each day. However, some customers can find those collection methods annoying. For a better customer experience, you can choose to add your form to your sidebar or footer if you feel it won’t slip by customers. If you do go the pop-up route, consider offering a discount or some other incentive to entice first-time visitors to sign up for email. Here’s how women’s clothing retailer LOFT does it:

2. Opt In at Checkout

Consider asking customers to opt-in to receive special offers at checkout, whether your shoppers purchase in a brick-and-mortar location or your online store. At the bottom of each email receipt, invite customers to join your email list to be notified of special offers. As you see your subscriber list grow, you’ll be able to find new, inventive ways to reach out to them.

3. Personalize

Customers receive so many emails, so it can be difficult to stand out in a person’s inbox. Personalization can make a big difference whether or not a recipient opens your email, reads it, and takes action on it. Use tech tools to segment your customers based on previous actions such as the items they’ve purchased and the areas of your website they’ve visited.

4. Determine Customer Interests

As you’re launching your personalization efforts, ask your customers their interests and divide them into separate groups based on the information they provide. If you aren’t personalizing your messages, chances are your competitors are, which means you’re possibly losing business.

5. Drive Action

Your emails should be designed to get results, whether you want to increase sales or boost the number of product reviews you get online. To accomplish the former, consider regularly sending subscribers coupons for small discounts or free shipping, each containing an expiration date that creates a sense of urgency. For the latter, include a link in every email you send that makes it easy for customers to leave reviews on your website. By boosting your online reviews, you’ll encourage other customers to visit your website, where you can potentially add them to your email lists, thus expanding your reach.

Email marketing can help you connect with your customers on a one-on-one basis. Once you’ve set up a way to capture addresses, provide customers with something that can help them and they’ll not only stay on your email list, but they’ll also be more likely to take action.