Ecommerce Email Marketing: 18 Must-Have Emails

Your customer’s email address is an elixir to help your eCommerce business succeed. With the right email marketing strategy for your eCommerce business, you can convert past engagements into repeat customers. 

 But, that’s not all. Ecommerce email marketing is more than just strategy. Your emails reflect your brand’s voice. It’s about how you communicate with your customers and what you want to tell them.

It might be challenging. But sending out personalized emails can help your eCommerce business deliver 6X higher ROI. And, the best part is that you can automate your email marketing campaigns with ease.

Here are 18 emails that will boost your eCommerce email marketing ROI.

1. Welcome Emails 
2. Personalized Thank you From CEO
3. Order confirmation: 
4. Cart Abandonment:
5. Survey and CSAT
6. Curation / related 
7. Engagement
8. Drive referral business 
9. Special discount and offers
10. Win-back - Hate losing you
11. New Product Launch and Announcement
12. Feedback for product and service improvement
13. Exclusive offer for select high-value customers
14. Birthday, Anniversary and other special days
15. Festive Greetings (be mindful of keeping it secular)
16. Limited time offers to create a sense of urgency
17. Apology email for any delays, order accuracy issues
18. Periodic newsletter with blogs and other useful content

1. Welcome Emails

Do you know what is the best part of a welcome email? You get to talk about your brand in your own terms.

Welcome emails set a precedent to what your customers can expect from you. Ecommerce businesses that send welcome emails have 33% more user engagement than those that don’t. So, it is important that your welcome emails are unambiguous and have a clear call-to-action.

The call-to-action could encourage your subscribers to update their user profile, read a blog, or make a purchase. Offer to make them come to your store.

Tip: To measure the success of your welcome email, measure the conversion rate. You need to know how many people actually clicked on your CTA. 

2. Personalized Thank you From CEO

Sometimes you may wonder what you can do or say to appreciate your customers for their continued loyalty. And, what better way is to show that by sending a personalized thank you message from the CEO. Why? 

It creates an emotional and memorable connection between your customers and your business. 

Did you know that 68% of customers have stopped using a service because of the feeling of indifference shown towards them by a company?

So, send out a personalized thank you message once in a while. It shows your customers that you appreciate them. 

According to studies, 38% of customers associate an excellent customer experience to personalization. A good customer experience increases customer delight and ensures they join your brand community and make more purchases.

Tip: Here are 7 pointers to create a stellar and memorable thank you note. 

1. 1. Use a personalized greeting 
   2. Express thanks and appreciation
   3. Include specific information 
   4. Talk about what’s in store for the future 
   5. Say thanks again 
   6. Choose an appropriate closing 
   7. Sign your name 

3. Order confirmation:

After the welcome email, order confirmation emails have one of the most read emails in your customer’s inbox. This email has the highest engagement rates with 54% more open rates and 84% more click rates than other emails. 

Order confirmation emails are an important transactional email. It assures customers that their orders have been processed, they have provided the right shipping address, and when they can expect the order to be fulfilled. 

An excellent example of the order confirmation email is by Proflowers. It sends a personalized message and shares the order number right at the beginning. It answers the 4 W’s - 

• What was ordered
• Who is receiving the order 
• Where it is being delivered 
• When it is being delivered

4. Cart Abandonment:

It is disheartening to see your customers abandon their cart after choosing their products. And, you might be wondering how to win them back and ensure they press the purchase now button. The answer is simple! 

Send a small reminder email to jog their memory. 60 percent of customers have purchased their orders as soon as they received a personalized cart abandonment email. 

Lego has played the cards right with its cart abandonment email. The image resonates with the headline copy. The email also displays what the customer had chosen in the cart. It helps the customer to recollect his/her order with ease. 

And, immediately, it closes with a Buy Now CTA

5. Survey and CSAT:

Measuring customer satisfaction is key to a successful eCommerce business. Customer satisfaction score not only provides insights about the customer experience your business delivers but also plays a major role in customer retention.

According to studies, 92% of customers who gave an eCommerce business a CSAT score of 90% are more likely to purchase again from your business and recommend it to their friends and family. However, only 48% of customers were likely to recommend the business if the CSAT score was between 80-89%. 

Let us take an example of Withings. The email copy has a compelling survey invitation. It asks the customer to be honest so that they could understand the customer’s overall experience. Plus, it also mentions it would take only 2 minutes to take the survey. It shows that the brand respects the customer’s time. 

Tip: Most customers do not like to write essays while taking the survey. Ensure the email is personalized and your questions are specific to get better insights to make the right decisions. 

6. Curation / Related:

Imagine you recently moved into your new place. You are looking for new furniture at a local furniture shop. The shop assistant asks you a series of questions for what kind of furniture you are looking for and shows you multiple options.

Similarly, you can send out curated emails on your best selling products based on your customer’s past purchases or items that are left in the cart. This helps you to segment your audience and target your emails to get an effective response. 

Buck Mason has nailed with its perfect curation email. If you are looking for new shirts, you may also want to buy a pair of pants. The email copy entices customers to explore multiple options.

7. Engagement Emails: 

The ultimate goal of an email marketing strategy for an eCommerce business is to continually engage their customers. Research shows that 44% of marketers stated that increasing customer engagement is their #1 challenge. 

Here’s a simple trick that Blue Nile uses to engage its customers. Research shows that 61% of customers abandon their carts due to high shipping costs.

Blue Nile leveraged this insight and sent out emails to its subscribers with free shipping and returns with all orders. That’s customer engagement 101. When you listen to your customers, you are able to serve them better. 

8. Drive referral business

The holy grail of an effective eCommerce email marketing strategy is the referral program.  90% of new customers are more likely to trust and buy from a brand that is recommended by their friends or family.

Businesses know that the cost to acquire a new customer is way more than retaining a customer. A referral program is one of the best customer acquisition tactics. It increases customer engagement, loyalty, and helps bring in new customers to your business.

While building a referral program, ensure you

• Define the goals 
• List your sources of referrals 
• Create a plan to reach out 
• Set well-defined referral incentives 
• Promote your referral programs through the right marketing channels
• Track, measure, and optimize your referral program

9. Special discount and offers

Customers love offers. And, eCommerce businesses are in a constant race to give the best possible offers.  While planning your email marketing strategy for your eCommerce business, create a strategy for your discount, and offer email campaigns.

Running targeted discount campaigns are known to yield a 760% increase in revenue.

Include discounts and special offers on festive occasions like New Year, Thanksgiving offers, and special occasions like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s or Father’s Day to increase customer engagement in your email marketing mix. 

Tip: Research shows that 54% of customers purchase when they are targeted with the discounted price for their abandoned cart items.

10. Win-back - Hate losing you

It's tough to see your customers being disengaged with your brand or worse unsubscribe from your mailing list. 

Win back your customers before it’s too late. 45% of customers who get a win-back email have actively re-engaged with the brand.

Here are 5 tips to craft a perfect win-back email strategy 

• Remind your customers that you exist 
• Offer an incentive to engage with your service 
• Ask for feedback (It’s good to know why they haven’t used your service for a while) 
• Inform them that you would unsubscribe them from the mailing list if there’s no response 
• Send the last email informing that you would always be happy to have you back 

11. New Product Launch and Announcement

Remember Steve Job’s iconic launch of the new Apple products. For example in 2007 - he captivated the audience by showing what the iPhone would do for them. He solely focused on the benefits of the new SMART phone.

Fast forward today, Apple still captivates its customers and audience with its excellent marketing strategies.

Check out this email of the latest Macbook Pro. The email has a sleek design of the Macbook. And, they have clearly listed the features of the product.

And, they also mention an exchange offer with a compelling line. It’s good for you and for the planet.

12. Feedback for product and service improvement

Your relationship with your customers never ends after they make a purchase. The next step is to engage with them to understand how you can make service better or if the product met their expectations. 

Many businesses have high customer churn rates due to poor customer service. Infact, 59% of customers have switched to a competitor brand because of bad customer service.

Here are 3 things you could do to engage with your customers: 

1. Ask for customer feedback or do NPS survey
2. Set and measure customer expectations 
3. Add value through your surveys

13. Exclusive offer for select high-value customers

One of the most effective eCommerce email marketing strategies is to create an idea of exclusivity.  Customers love the feeling of being part of a group that has exclusive benefits. 

Let us take a look at Amazon’s Prime Membership Program. Amazon customers had to pay $9.48 for two-day delivery. Amazon introduced its Prime Membership Program where customers only had to pay an upfront cost of $79/year to get one-day shipping.  And, Amazon saw its sales soar. Prime had more than 100 million paying members across the globe. Amazon created a sense of urgency and exclusivity which completely altered consumer behavior.

If you do not want to invest in a paid participation program, segment your most profitable customers, and ensure you pay special attention to them. Email is a great way to do that.

14. Birthday, Anniversary and other special days

No matter how old you get, you always love a special birthday/anniversary gift. And, not sending one to your customer is a big no-no. It might seem too mainstream to send a birthday/anniversary email to your customers. But here are some facts that you need to know about birthday emails.

Birthday emails have 179% higher unique click-through rates and subscribers are 6 times more likely to purchase from a Happy Birthday email than regular promotional emails. 

Check out Nike’s birthday email. It creates a sense of anticipation and sets a time-bound offer. 

Tip: Ensure you have the right birthday or anniversary. There’s nothing worse than getting it wrong. So, here’ what you can do to avoid a mess-up. Send out a short email requesting for your birthday and explaining your birthday offers. Trust me, it will work magic! 

15. Festive Greetings

There are lots of holidays around the year. Right from New Years’ to Christmas, there are days of celebration and joy. And, customers love to splurge on their loved ones on these occasions. 

According to Mckinsey, customers who receive personalized festive greeting emails are more likely to spend three times more than social media. 

16. Limited time offers to create a sense of urgency 

Nothing attracts customers more than a good offer. And, it works like a charm. And, the best part is you don’t need to dive deep to know what your customers would like to buy. One great place to start your limited offer campaign is the abandoned cart report. 

Create promotional offers around the abandoned cart items and set a time-bound offer. Research shows that limited offer emails have 14% higher click-through rates, 59% higher transaction-to-click rates, and 2X higher transaction rates.

17. Apology email for any delays, order accuracy issues

The minute your customers place their order, they are always checking in to see the status of the order. When their orders are delayed, they start to panic and start reaching out to customer service. 

Before your customer service agents are overwhelmed with calls, send out an email to your customers informing the same. Take a look at Walmart’s order delay email. 

Tips to write an order delay email

• Be apologetic
• Inform the reason for the delay and the ETA
• Explain the future steps

18. Periodic newsletter with blogs and other useful content

If you want to talk about your new products, a newsletter is a way to go. It is the perfect email to showcase your subject expertise to your customers.

Your customers are always bombarded with offer emails and discounts, your newsletter can be a sight for sore eyes. An effective newsletter is content-driven, not sales driven.

Tip: Maintain 90-10 rule with the newsletter. 90% content and 10% sales.

Conclusion: With the advent of digital marketing channels, it has become easier to reach out to a larger audience.

But email marketing does more than that. It forges a relationship between your customers and your business. So, don’t forget your basics and build a list.

Want to know how to run a successful eCommerce email marketing campaign? Check out these 5 strategies to run a successful email marketing campaign.  Or you could get expert advice at Growth Natives.