Right now, it’s really popular to create eCommerce shops and agency’s, so in this post I’ll show you how to start mastering the eCommerce email marketing game. Email marketing is till the undeniable king of ROI with av average of 42x the return. Having a clear email strategy is a way better choice than any other way of marketing.
With the right email strategy, you can turn your subscribers into brand evangelists that shares your brand freely and happily.
After reading this post you understand what kind of email strategy is important and how you can achieve it.
What you need to understand about eCommerce email marketing
Email marketing and eCommerce email marketing are not the same. For this post we’re talking about how you maximize the return from an eCommerce store.
> Campaigns: A onetime send to a group of contacts. Holiday or promotions.
> Flows: Triggered every time a certain behavior occurs, like abandoned cart.
You want at least 20% of revenue to come from email, split equal between campaigns and flows.
Sending to the full list will get you sent to spam. You need to segment the list based on engagement Depending on how often you send, it will be different groups.
You also need to clean your list regularly to limit the cost of the list.
Now, Let’s get started!
There are 13 different flows and AT LEAST 12 different campaigns you should be using. We are not going to be talking about all of them today because it would be a too big post for you to read.
We’re going to split the flows in
> Pre-Purchase Flows
> Post purchase Flows
The specific flows and campaigns we will be talking about are:
- Welcome flow / Pre-Purchase
- Browse Abandonment / Pre-Purchase
- Back in Stock / Pre-Purchase
- Customer Winback / Post Purchase
- Sunset / Post Purchase
- Bestsellers / Campaign
- Free products w/purchase / Campaign
- Referral / Campaign
How to Create a Welcome Flow for NON-Buyers
The Welcome flow is in 4 Parts and Delivered immediately. It is sent to the people that sign up to your list/newsletter without making any purchase.
1st Welcome Email should have an open rate of 70-80%.
The purpose is to welcome new sign ups and introduce them to the brand as well as fulfill any promises from the sign up offer. If there was a discount promised, make sure to give it towards the top of the email. That way they can see it immediately.
Welcome flow subject lines:
– Welcome!
– Welcome (more info inside!)
– Welcome to [BRAND NAME]
– You’re part of the family now
– Fantastic. You are in!
You want to auto resend to non-openers the next day with new subject line. This will give you a higher open rate because there will be people that didn’t see the first email.
2nd Welcome Email – Open Rate of 50-60%
Sent 1-2 days after 1st
This email should show why the brand is unique. This builds community and trust.
The second email should focus on the:
> Brand Story
> Unique Quality Standards
> Benefits of Shopping with Your Company
2nd Email General subject line ideas:
– You heard it here first
– Learn more about us
– Here’s our story
– Level up your [INSERT WORD] game…
Structure:
1. Why we do what we do
2. What we promise/ the difference to others
3. Shop
3rd Welcome email – Open Rate 40-50%
Sent 2-3 days after 2nd email
Use this email to show social proof and some of the best sellers. The social proof build even more trust because they see other people that like your brand. That’s an important factor when customers are buying from a new company. The best sellers together with social proof will help make the case of what the brands best products are. Then they are more likely to buy.
Focus on
– Social Proof (customer reviews, press, celebrity/brand endorsements, etc)
– Display Popular Products
3rd email General subject line ideas:
– Our customers say it best
– Have you treated yourself lately?
– The Love is Real
– Word on the street
Structure:
1. Reminder discount
2. Social proof
3. Shop
4th Welcome email – Open Rate 30-40%
Sent 3-4 days after 3rd
Use this email to get the readers to follow you on social media. You want to stay connected on more platforms. The more places they follow you the more often they see your content and are more prone to buy again.
Focus on:
– The community element or introduce founders.
Structure:
1. Welcome to family
2. Introduce founder
3. Reminder discount
4. Shop
General subject line ideas:
– We’re All in this Together
– Let’s Get Social
– Let’s Be Friends
– We’re All Here for You
– Meet our Team
You should A/B test the different number of days between the emails to see which fits your audience best.
How to Create a Browse Abandonment Flow
The Browse Abandonment flow is for people who have signed up for emails & viewed a product, but DIDN’T add to cart, get to checkout, or make a purchase.
The flow is 2-3 emails. Most often 2, If the statistics are good, then a 3rd one should be made.
You should A/B test sending between 30 min – 4 hours. Depending on your audience and your product, it can make a big difference in conversions.
Browse Abandonment Flow filters:
– Added to cart zero times since starting this flow
– Started checkout zero times since starting this flow
– Placed order zero times since starting this flow
– Has not been in flow in last X days
1st Email
Send email with general copy about brand and products and use dynamic product code to fill in the product that customer viewed.
Structure:
1. Dig it?
2. We had a hunch
3. Discount
4. Shop
2nd email is sent the next day
Structure:
Did you see something you liked?
Here’s a discount for 24 hours
Shop now
Free Shipping
3rd email – 22 hours after 2nd
Hey 2 hours left to use your discount
Show product
Discount
Shop
The purpose with this flow is to move them down the funnel by going to the site and initiate checkout. When they do they will either buy or get a Abandoned Checkout emails and trigger that flow.
How to Create a Back in Stock Flow
The Back in Stock flow is for those who have signed up to be notified when a product that is out of stock, is back again. Instead of waiting for the product to get restocked, you send an email after 5 minutes with a discount to other products. This is very uncommon but works really well. The people that subscribe to be notified are often very willing to buy from you. So when you send them a discount, many will buy other things to make up for the thing they didn’t get.
1st Email
Structure:
1. While you wait
2. Hey [FIRST NAME] here’s a confirmation that you’re waiting for [PRODUCT]
3. In the meantime here’s XX% off on our other products
4. Dynamic code
2nd Email is sent when the product is back in stock.
Structure:
1. The wait is over!
2. Sorry for making you wait, Here’s XX% off
3. Grab it before it’s gone!
4. Claim Product
If they don’t buy from this email, you send 2 follow-ups to them with a few days between. They look very similar.
How to Create a Customer Winback Flow
60-365 days after placing an order (depending on the type of product) is the time to do a follow-up.
The point of the Winback flow is to get customers to place a new order or at least get in the funnel again. The flows are really powerful to get the customers back to make a new purchase decision.
If they have bought again during this time, they’re excluded from this flow.
1st email
Subject line:
– It’s been a while…
– We haven’t seen you in a while
– Just for you [FIRST NAME]
Structure:
1. Check out what’s new
2. Here’s a peak / discount
3. Show products
4. Shop now
Email 2
Wait 15 days before sending the next email
It’s basically the same structure as the first email.
Email 3
5 days after 2nd email.
Structure:
1. Don’t wait too long… / last chance
2. Discount code expiring
3. Show popular
4. Show now
If they haven’t opened any of these emails, it’s a high risk that they are a lost cause and a candidate for the Sunset unengaged flow.
How to Create a Sunset Unengaged Flow
As I said before, we don’t want a lot of people that doesn’t engage on the list.
This is the breakup series. If they don’t engage in this flow, they become suppressed.
This is the last chance to win them back. It’s two emails in this flow.
Sunset Unengaged Filter:
- Is not suppressed
- Haven’t open an email in 90 days
- Haven’t clicked an email in last 90 days (fail safe in case above doesn’t work as it should)
- Have received over 15 email
- Have not ordered in 45 days
- Haven’t been on site for 45 days
1st Email
Subject:
Time to say goodbye?
Structure:
1. You’re missing out / It’s been a while
2. We want to check in and make sure you get our emails, are you not interested?
3. We’re happy to give you a discount if you come back
4. Code Valid 48 hours
2nd Email
Wait 5 days
Subject:
This is the last email you’ll ever receive from us
Structure:
1. You seem to be over us
2. We know inboxes can be a bit crowded but if you’d like to stay on the list do nothing. If you want to unsubscribe press button below.
No open?
Unengaged = true
It’s time to suppress them. Never delete them, you also delete the data.
If they happen to open an email during this flow, they get tagged as someone you can win back.
How to Create The Best Seller Campaign
Focus on 3-6 products so you don’t overwhelm the readers with a lot of products.
Subject lines:
You need these
These best sellers are 🔥🔥🔥
Compliments guaranteed.
Preview texts:
These are our MUST haves
Our stuff is the COOLEST
All the best – Just for you
Show products
How to Create The Referral Campaign
Turn your existing customers into brand evangelists.
This flow lets customers give discounts/products to a friend and receive the same thing as well. This expands your reach and shows that customers believe in your brand enough to share it with their friends.
You should only target customers who have been engaging with your emails.
Subject lines:
Here 💸. It’s for you
Sharing is caring
Let us pay you for this
Preview texts:
Send a friend $20 and get $20 off your order.
Announcing a better way to share [BRAND]
Sharing [BRAND] just got easier.
Structure:
1. You want your friends to feel good right?
2. Tell a friend
3. Story about how sharing is remembered
How to Create The Free Product With Purchase Campaign
This flow is a great way to get rid of old products or products that aren’t selling. It’s a conversion focused flow as you’re sweetening the pot for the customer to get them to buy from you.
Subject lines:
Your favorite [PRODUCT] is now FREE! 🙏
Score your FREE [PRODUCT]
Free [PRODUCT] with purchase!
Preview texts:
Don’t miss out on a FREE [PRODUCT]! 🔥
[PRODUCT] is free with purchase from now until we sell out!
Don’t wait – These will go fast!
This flow is great at convincing subscribers to become first-time buyers, and one-time buyers to become repeat customers.
I know that this has been quite a big post but since you’ve made it this far, you clearly want more!
So let me introduce Chase Dimond. He is the mastermind that has been killing it in this industry for years and are now helping others to do the same!
This thread is but a fraction of what Chase teaches in his course. I’ve only just scratched the surface! eCommerce Email marketing course will teach you how to run a successful email agency, or if you have your own shop, increase the email revenue.
If you want in this game, fast decisions are essential. What is hot is ever changing and you need to get on it fast if you want to get clients.
Chase started his online journey when he was 13 after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. He learned guerilla marketing to help spread awareness of the disease. He managed to get 10s of thousands in donations to the cause and get a lot of information out there.
When he was in college, he built a platform for students to make learning more collaborate and then scaled it to 250k students in 6 months.
He then built and scaled a travel agency to 500k email subscribers in 10 months using cold email.
In total he has:
Acquired 1M+ online community members
Driven $50M+ in email revenue since june 2018.
There are not a lot of people like this and I encourage you to connect with him if you are interested in eCommerce Email marketing. Chase Dimond is a super humble guy that share a lot of knowledge to help others.
See our full review of his course below.
Don’t want to read our review? Click this picture with our partner link to see the course.
