Automation has become synonymous with email marketing success as 319.6 billion emails are sent regularly to over 4.147 billion email users, generating an average ROI of 44 USD against every dollar invested. Without automation, none of these stalwart marketing figures would have been possible, and it is the very reason why emails are the backbone of any digital marketing strategy.
Be it large conglomerates or SMBs, automation-based email marketing is the bread and butter for every online marketer. As an email marketing consultant that happens to understand email automation in depth, I am going to discuss how ecommerce businesses can capitalize on it. Let’s begin:
Understanding Email Automation Basics With Reference To Ecommerce
In simple words, email automation refers to the computerized response to a ‘trigger’ which can be an activity from the user end, an event, or simply the completion of a predefined time period. It can be cascading in nature, i.e., the course of action and content sent can be contextual to the trigger. Also, it can be aligned to a strategy of the sender, like in the case of marketing communications.
All in all, email automation ensures that email serves as a value-adding channel for the subscriber and that it generates a steady stream of revenue for the sender. For instance, product recommendation emails are sent on the basis of past user activity and their purchase history. Such emails are sent to every customer as a part of broader account-based marketing. Now, let us understand email automation better with its practical examples for ecommerce businesses.
Various Email Automation Workflows Used By Ecommerce Businesses
In this section, we will try to understand how different automation workflows help ecommerce businesses in achieving their sales budgets. It is noteworthy that email is the single most effective outreach channel for the ecommerce industry as it generates a huge percentage of their revenue while also providing a channel for client servicing. Let us have a look at the top five email automation types that need to be a part of every ecommerce email marketing strategy:
#1 Welcome Email Series
The welcome email series is undoubtedly the most important interaction with your leads since this is where they perceive your ecommerce brand. Unlike brick and mortar stores, their perception of your business has no physical interaction, and it doesn’t involve any human-to-human contact as well. Generally, people join mailing lists to avail the benefits promised at the time of opt-in, and the welcome email should contain the promised gift.
It should also provide the new subscriber with a basic idea of what your brand is, your offerings, and what to expect in future communications. Your automation workflow should take into consideration all the user data available alongside the insights on why they subscribed. This is generally understood on the basis of which marketing material convinced them to connect with your brand.
#2 Cart Abandonment Emails
If you asked any email marketing consultant about cart abandonment emails, they would tell you that it is the topmost priority for any brand. The reason is simple: The ecommerce industry witnesses a cart abandonment rate of 74.52%, and email is the most effective tool to fix this gigantic leakage in their sales funnel.
Here, not completing the purchase acts as the trigger, and a series of emails are sent to complete the sale. They are sent in fixed intervals like within half an hour, two hours, 24 hours, and one week depending on the industry. You may also include promotional offers based on the concerned item.
#3 Upselling, Downselling Emails And Cross-Selling
Upselling and down selling emails fall under the category of marketing messages, and automation provides a substantial boost to these efforts. Here, the user’s account data, transaction history, spending habits, and external factors like sales season are accounted for to generate a marketing plan that aims to sell the same user in higher volume and generate more revenue.
In case the user isn’t making purchases as per their past behavior, down selling is leveraged to ensure that the lead isn’t completely lost. Both of them take the user’s current situations and affinity towards your product class into account for setting up the automation workflows.
Cross-selling email automation works when you have already sold a product and you have something that goes well with the purchased product and the customer might be interested in it. This increases the chances of another purchase from your ecommerce store.
#4 Reactivation Emails
Despite your best efforts, you will always lose some of your subscribers over time. This is inevitable, but you should always try to minimize email list shrinkage, and reactivation emails come in handy in the process. You need to set the parameters like the total duration of inactivity after which a customer is to be approached for re-engagement. Their spending habits could also act as a process parameter.
However, your reactivation email automation strategy should consider a definite period/degree of inactivity, after which the subscriber is deemed as a dormant lead and helped in the process of opting out. This will ensure the overall hygiene of your mailing list and your email deliverability rate.
#5 Winback Email Series
When you find that a lead isn’t responding to your reactivation email series and that they need to be discarded off your mailing list, you should use the win-back email series as your last attempt. This automation workflow uses a reminder, a few personalized offer-based messages, and a final opt-out message to encapsulate the process.
Setting up the automation for win-back email series requires one to plan out all sales offers in advance and also include clauses such as availing X% of discount against a purchase of $Y.
Wrap Up
Thus, automation helps you stay in your customers’ eyes on a consistent basis without overwhelming them. It maximizes your contact with them while being a significantly cost-effective way of doing so. Email automation helps serve numerous purposes of online selling, and thus, it is undoubtedly the best bet for any ecommerce business.
Author: Kevin George is the head of marketing at Email Uplers, that specializes in crafting Professional Email Templates, PSD to Email conversion, and Mailchimp Templates. Kevin loves gadgets, bikes & jazz, and he breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on email marketing blog.
