Email marketing is one of the best marketing strategies to acquire leads and turn them into paying customers. It will amaze you to know that the return on investment for email marketing averages at 3,800%, or an average of $38 return for every dollar invested.
Email marketing is expanding and becoming more robust with the aid of technology. Businesses can now send personalized email messages to their subscribers according to their details. Not only that, you can send timed and action-triggered emails to your subscribers. This is known as email automation.
Reasons why e-commerce businesses needs email marketing automation
Every e-commerce business needs email marketing automation because of the following reasons:
1. E-commerce marketing automation improves the customer experience. This is because you can send personalized emails to your customers which?are?triggered when they carry out certain actions. With personalization, 93% of companies see an uplift in conversion rates.
2. E-commerce marketing automation increases your ROI and reduces the need to employ more staff for repetitive tasks.
3. E-commerce marketing automation boosts your average order value through cross-sell and upsell of products in your emails.
4. E-commerce marketing automation brings back customers who abandoned their carts to come and complete their purchases.
5. E-commerce marketing automation helps to retain customers and increase their loyalty.
The benefits above are the reasons 67% of companies use email automation.
To start your e-commerce marketing automation, you need an email automation tool. MailChimp auto-responder platform offers a robust email marketing automation feature for e-commerce businesses. It is easy to use and pocket-friendly.
With MailChimp e-commerce automation, you can create six (6) email marketing automation workflows.
1. The Welcome first-time customer email
The welcome first-time customer email is very important and profitable. It receives the highest open rate (45.7%) and it has a 1% conversion rate.
The welcome email series should be created to accomplish three things: Offer value to subscribers, push them to take further action, and build engagement with them.
As soon as a new customer buys from your e-commerce store, send a welcome email to them, thanking them for visiting and buying from you. This is because real-time welcome emails generate up to 320% more revenue per email than other promotional emails.
This e-commerce marketing automation email presents a great opportunity to show your first-time buyers that you value them. To show that they are valuable to your business, offer them discounts on your products. Then, tell them the next action to take. This can be to check out more products from your e-commerce store or use a specific coupon code to make purchases. Make sure the call to action is enticing and inviting to click.
The last thing is to inform your subscribers about what to expect from you in your coming emails.
Below is a good example of a welcome email for first-time customers from Josie Maran cosmetics.
It is beautifully designed with a warm welcome message and an attractive call to action. The next e-commerce marketing automation email you can send with MailChimp is the “reward your best customers’ email”.
2. Reward your best customers email
The second Mailchimp e-commerce automation email you can send to your subscribers is the ‘reward your best customers’ automation emails’. Customers are said to be the lifeblood of businesses, including yours, so treat them well and thank them for their patronage. You can use the Mailchimp e-commerce automation feature to create an automation workflow for your loyal customers. To make the email more effective, add promo codes, coupons, and other offers personalized to only your loyal customers. Send them an invitation to an exclusive early access sale or remind them they are close to the reward stage.
These gestures will go a long way to keep your customers from patronizing your competitors.
Below is an example from Cents of Style.
They appreciated their loyal customers by treating them to VIP perks.
The next e-commerce marketing automation email is the ‘win back lapsed customers’ emails’.
3. Win back lapsed customers email
The ‘win back lapsed customers’ e-commerce marketing automation email’ is the email you send to customers who have made purchases from your e-commerce store before but have bought nothing in recent time. They may also be part of your list that has not been opening your emails in a long while.
The good news is, the redundant customers on your list can be reactivated and re-engaged. All you need is to send an e-commerce automation marketing email through MailChimp to lure them back to your website.
Find an example from below:
In the example above, you can see how Gingiber grabbed the attention of their inactive audience by offering discount codes. They also mentioned products that can be of interest to the customer.
Therefore, to make your email work, choose products that the customer will probably buy based on their purchase history and add mouthwatering offers that can attract your customers. The fourth MailChimp e-commerce automation email you can send to your subscribers is the ‘abandoned cart reminder email’.
4. Abandoned cart reminder email
The fourth Mailchimp e-commerce automation email is the abandoned cart reminder. Sometimes website visitors may browse your e-commerce store, intending to purchase, but leave without making the purchase because of factors such as high shipping rate, slow loading speed, payment options, and no coupon code. Sending a Mailchimp e-commerce automation email to remind them of the purchase is a great way to bring them back to finish the purchasing process.
A study revealed that over 3/4 of shoppers leave a website without completing a purchase. Also, about 55% of shoppers abandon their carts. It will amaze you to know that abandoned carts costs online retailers an estimated $260 billion in lost revenues.
One thing you can do to bring them back to complete the purchase is to send them a MailChimp automation marketing email reminding them of their purchase. This works well. According to Moosend, 10.7% of customers completed their purchase after receiving cart recovery campaign emails.
To ensure you generate the best result from your abandoned cart e-commerce marketing automation email, ensure you address all known objections. You can start by offering discounts or promo codes to reduce the price of the product, add product user reviews and use the fear of missing out (FOMO) to get them to buy. Also, suggest new products to your customers with product recommendations.
Below is an example of an abandoned cart email from Asos.
This is an exceptional abandoned cart email. It has a unique title, a catchy call to action, and mouth-watering offers to bring back the customer to finish the purchasing process. The fifth MailChimp e-commerce automation email is the ‘product follow-up message’
5. Product follow-up message email
The product follow-up message is another MailChimp e-commerce automation email you can send to your shoppers who purchase a product from your e-commerce store. In the email, request for customer feedback and offer useful help or recommend new products. This e-commerce marketing automation email shows your customers you are still thinking about them. It will help you to build a relationship with them and also increase your product feedback.
Below is a product follow-up message from Sephora.
Your product follow-up message should express your gratitude to them for being your customer. Ask for a product review, show a similar product that can attract your customers’ attention, and include product instructions or FAQs.
The last MailChimp e-commerce automation email is the ‘order notification email’.
6. Order notifications
The last MailChimp e-commerce automation email is the order notification. The order notification receives over a 70% open rate because of its content. This e-commerce automation marketing email contains an e-commerce receipt showing the details of the product purchased. MailChimp e-commerce automation feature enables you to create a top-notch order notification email where you can add the photo of the product purchased, the price, and the transaction number. You can also recommend complementary products to further make more sales.
Below is a great example from Crate&Barrel.
Conclusion:
There you have it! The six examples of marketing automation workflow for e-commerce with MailChimp, Now your last step will be to connect Mailchimp to an automation platform like Leadsbridge, to have all your leads synchronized in one place. Check out our dedicated Mailchimp integration!
