Millenials killed email!
Oh wait, it’s actually still one of the most converted platform to this day, next to paid advertising and referrals.
This is especially true for e-commerce businesses. Some of which are not sending any emails at all. With most types of businesses, though, it means your company will be the one dying rather than email.
Ok a bit dramatic, but building relationships and loyal customers takes much more than a few social media posts. It takes a great deal of care and concern for your audience. It helps to begin by considering what you’d want if you signed up to a new company’s newsletter. To begin with, here are the top 3 emails you should be sending if you’re not already.
Top 3 types of emails you should be sending:
Welcome Email
It may be the most annoying thing in the world to some, the most endearing to others. No matter your personal feelings, a welcome to our community/newsletter/company/family email is necessary at this point.
Not only does it prepare people for what kind of content you’ll send them, but it confirms they’ve signed up and puts your name in front of them as a reminder that they did. It helps familiarize them with the style of your emails and hopefully look forward to receiving them, provided you’ve given them reasons to.
“Sales” Sequence
Don’t let this phrase put you off from creating these. It’s actually one of the most efficient ways to convert. You’re putting yourself in front of an interested visitor in a way that remains authentic to your brand. You can also still convey: “hey we can do amazing things if you buy this” and allow them to understand your services or products better.
Depending upon what type of business you have, the sooner you send this sequence out to the new subscriber, the better. If you prefer to build trust and relationships more first, perhaps wait if it is right for your brand, but sending these out within 2-3 days of subscribing is typically ideal.
These sequences can include various content from introducing the product(s) to telling the background of the company’s story and why you sell what you sell. If you’re a company selling e-commerce small products, it’s likely your sales sequence will include your top selling products for example.
Whatever style you choose, ensure it’s in line with what your audience expects and make it relevant to them. Remember, you wouldn’t want to read “Buy this custom massive, long-term commitment program today” when they’ve just been introduced to your company. Take your time to practice empathy and build relationships.
Abandoned Cart
If you have any sort of cart functionality on your website, most of them have capabilities to send them a reminder that they were interested in a specific product but did not purchase. On 99firms.com’s report it showed “28.3% of all e-commerce revenue comes from successful abandoned cart emails.”
On this note, these emails accompanied with re-targeting paid advertising shows an even higher conversion rate. People often do not buy upon first view – they research, they consider, they evaluate expenses, etc. Staying in front of them regularly during their buying journey will remind them that they considered you before and should actually purchase.
The key to these emails, however, is to ensure they’re CORRECT. Sending out an abandoned cart email with a completely different item or inviting them to purchase things completely unrelated is likely to feel more sold to than if you considered exactly what they need and apply it to related searches if possible.
Bonus Email Tips!
Do you fill in your preview text to match your great subject line? I can’t count how often the subject line is vague enough to make me delete the email, but I see something specific and relevant in the preview text which leads me to open it after all. Don’t lose your audience by sounding irrelevant!
Do your images always use an ‘alt text‘? If not, those who block images from all or most senders will not click on anything. Using an alt text ensures they know what they’d be opening or clicking on rather than feeling it’s untrustworthy – especially if you haven’t sent them mail in a while or they simply forgot (it happens more than we like to admit).
Segmenting your email list provides a great deal of opportunity for both you and your audience. You’ll be able to personalize them with more than just “Hello [FirstName]” and instead be able to relate to their recent views/clicks with: “you might also like this based on your purchase history.” It also helps with SEO!
While you may not want to do every one of these, you should pick and choose what best fits the expectations of your audience and run with it. Just get started and you’ll see the engagement soar with the right content. Contact me to discuss how email marketing can work for your business.