The digital landscape is teeming with countless marketing strategies, but one stands unbeaten in its effectiveness – email copywriting for ecommerce. With a highly targeted audience, a more personal approach to communication, and simplicity, email copywriting has the power to drive impressive results for your ecommerce brand.
Email marketing is a proven method that continues to hold its ground in the ever-evolving world of ecommerce. It’s no surprise, given that MailerLite research indicates a significant increase in ecommerce purchases through emails in 2020. Coupled with a growth rate of 34% in email lists, the potential value of email copywriting is undeniable.
To tap into this potential, it’s crucial to create compelling email copy. A well-crafted email copywriting strategy can significantly boost your sales, turning your emails into powerful tools for customer conversion. This article, ’10 Proven Strategies for Killer Ecommerce Email Copywriting,’ will guide you through the crucial steps to creating compelling, effective email copy to drive your ecommerce success.
Whether you’re in the baby, fashion, home goods, or sporting goods industry, these strategies will help you understand your target audience, optimize your marketing funnel, and implement effective marketing strategies to increase brand awareness and customer acquisition. So, let’s dive in and uncover the power of email copywriting for ecommerce.
Understanding the Importance of Email Marketing for Ecommerce
If you are an ecommerce brand looking to scale your business, understanding the importance of email marketing is crucial. Especially if you want to thrive in today’s competitive digital landscape.
The ROI of Email Marketing for Ecommerce
Email marketing is more than just sending newsletters—it’s about fueling customer retention and driving revenue. According to Harvard Business School, a mere 5% increase in retention can amplify profits by up to 95%. Moreover, the average order value from email in ecommerce is 20% higher with three times the conversion rate compared to other channels. This makes email marketing a high-ROI strategy that can fuel your ecommerce growth.
The Growth of Email Lists in Ecommerce
Ecommerce stores are realizing the potential of email marketing, with 64% of marketers expecting their company’s email marketing budget to increase in the following year. Yet, research from Pure360 revealed that 9 out of 10 brands fall behind the email marketing maturity standards they aspire to reach. This is where the growth and optimization of email lists come into play. A robust and well-segmented email list can be a game-changer, helping you reach your customers with the right message at the right time.
The Relevance of Email Marketing in Today’s Ecommerce Landscape
In today’s ecommerce landscape, the typical professional gets an average of 121 emails per day, standing out in the crowded inbox is a challenge. But it’s not an impossible feat. With strategic and personalized email copywriting, you can capture the attention of your recipients, making your emails the ones they look forward to.
However, achieving this requires more than just sending sale emails. It demands a deep understanding of your audience’s needs, strategic segmentation, and compelling content that resonates. After all, effective email marketing is about creating value for your subscribers, fostering relationships, and guiding them down the funnel.
In the next sections, we’ll delve into the different categories of ecommerce email communication and how to craft compelling copy for each. Stay tuned to learn how to turn your emails into a powerful tool for driving ecommerce success.
The Four Key Categories of Ecommerce Email Communication
Emails are the digital glue that connects ecommerce brands to their customers. Crafting a compelling email copy is a fine art, but before you put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, it’s important to understand the different categories of ecommerce email communication. Each category serves a unique purpose and requires a distinct approach in terms of copywriting.
Welcome Emails: Making a Strong First Impression
First impressions matter, and in the world of ecommerce, welcome emails serve as that crucial first handshake. With an impressive open rate of 60%, welcome emails are the golden opportunity to introduce your brand, set the tone of future communications, and start building a relationship with your subscribers. Companies like Warby Parker leverage this opportunity by creating clean, simple, and fun welcome emails with subtle yet effective calls-to-action (CTAs) that align with their brand’s identity.
Promotional/Offer Emails: Providing Value to Your Subscribers
Promotional or offer emails are the digital equivalent of a “sale” sign in a physical store window. They not only provide value to your subscribers but also incentivize purchases. The key to crafting killer promotional email copy lies in highlighting the benefits of the offer and creating a sense of urgency that encourages swift action. Remember, these emails should be more about your subscribers’ gain than your brand’s promotion.
Cart Abandonment Emails: Recovering Lost Sales
Cart abandonment emails are powerful tools for ecommerce businesses to recover lost sales. Recent research shows that these emails can help you recover 15% of what would have otherwise been lost revenue. For instance, Enjuku Racing recovered more than $425,000 in sales using abandoned cart emails within just eight months. Your copy for these emails should remind customers of the items they left behind and nudge them to complete their purchases.
Transactional Emails: Building Excitement and Loyalty
Transactional emails, like order confirmation or shipping notifications, may seem mundane, but they are a vital part of the customer journey. They build anticipation and enhance customer loyalty by keeping your customers informed. Your transactional email copy should be clear and concise, providing all the necessary details and reinforcing the customer’s purchase decision.
In essence, each category of ecommerce email communication requires a different approach in copywriting because they serve different purposes. By understanding these categories and tailoring your email copy to suit each, you can effectively engage your subscribers, drive conversions, and scale your ecommerce business to new heights.
Crafting Compelling Subject Lines for Your Ecommerce Emails
Navigating the sea of emails in your customers’ inboxes can be tricky. However, with a well-crafted subject line, your ecommerce emails can stand out like a lighthouse guiding ships to safe harbor. The subject line is the first thing a reader sees, making it the gatekeeper of your email’s content. If it fails to grab attention, all the hard work put into the body of your email might go unread.
The Impact of Subject Lines on Email Open Rates
Research has found that a staggering 47% of recipients of marketing emails base their decision to open a message solely on the subject line. Hence, a compelling subject line is not just a nice-to-have, but an essential element in your ecommerce email strategy. It’s the difference between your email being opened or being lost in the abyss of the inbox.
Tips for Writing Attention-Grabbing Subject Lines
- Keep it Personal and Relevant: Personalization has become a key player in effective email copywriting. Addressing your recipient by name or tailoring the subject line to their specific interests can significantly increase open rates. For example, if your business sells pet products, you might use a subject line like, “John, your dog will love our new chew toys!”
- Use Action Words: Action words create a sense of excitement and urgency, enticing readers to open your email. Leading your subject line with verbs can incite curiosity and draw the reader in. For example, “Discover our latest fashion collection!” or “Start saving with our holiday deals today!”
- Create a Sense of Urgency: Including a deadline in your subject line can create a sense of urgency, encouraging readers to open your email sooner rather than later. This tactic can be especially effective when promoting limited-time sales or offers.
- Ask a Question: Questions, especially open-ended ones, can stimulate curiosity and encourage readers to open your email for the answer. For instance, “Ready for our biggest sale of the year?”
- Keep it Short and Sweet: With many people checking their emails on mobile devices, lengthy subject lines can get cut off. Try to keep your subject lines concise yet impactful.
Ultimately, crafting compelling subject lines is more of an art than a science. It’s about understanding your target audience and what motivates them to click. Therefore, continual testing and refining are crucial to nail the perfect subject line that boosts your ecommerce email open rates.
Personalizing Your Ecommerce Emails for Better Engagement
Remember that friend who always knows exactly what to say to brighten your day? That’s the kind of relationship your ecommerce business should have with its customers. And one of the best ways to achieve this is by personalizing your emails.
The Role of Personalization in Email Copywriting
Personalization is more than just a marketing buzzword; it is a very powerful tool that can significantly boost your email engagement rates. It’s all about making your customers feel understood and valued, which can ultimately lead to increased loyalty and sales.
In fact, research has shown that 91% of customers are more likely to do business with companies that offer personalized experiences. This goes beyond merely including the recipient’s first name in the email. It’s about providing relevant content and offers based on their unique needs, interests, and behavior.
Strategies for Personalizing Your Ecommerce Emails
Here are some proven strategies to add a personal touch to your ecommerce emails:
Segment your audience
Remember, not all your customers are the same. They have unique needs, preferences, and buying behaviors. Therefore, it’s essential to segment your email list into different groups. These groups should be based on specific criteria, such as demographics, past purchases, and browsing history. So, you can send relevant emails that are targeted and resonate with each segment.
Leverage behavioral triggers
Sending emails based on your customers’ behavior is a powerful way to personalize your communication. For instance, you can send a tailored email when a customer abandons their cart, views a specific product, or celebrates a birthday. These timely and relevant emails can significantly boost engagement and conversions.
Use dynamic content
Dynamic content allows you to change certain parts of the email content based on the recipient’s data. For example, you can show different product recommendations, offers, or images based on the recipient’s gender, location, or past purchases.
Personalize your subject lines
Personalized subject lines can make your emails stand out in crowded inboxes, increasing your open rates. Be creative and experiment with different formats, like asking a question, using a fun or intriguing statement, or incorporating a sense of urgency.
Remember, personalization is not just about making your emails more engaging; it’s about building a genuine connection with your customers. The more personalized your emails are, the more customers will feel valued and understood, leading to higher engagement and ultimately, more sales for your ecommerce business.
Writing Clear and Concise Ecommerce Emails
With personalization checked off your ecommerce email copywriting list, it’s time to focus on crafting clear and concise messages. An email cluttered with too much information or technical jargon can overwhelm your subscribers, leading to low engagement or worse, unsubscriptions.
The Importance of Clarity and Brevity in Email Copywriting
In the ever-buzzing digital world, your subscribers are bombarded with a swarm of emails every day. To cut through the noise, your ecommerce emails need to be crystal clear and succinct. Remember, your subscribers have limited time to spend on each email, so your message needs to be delivered quickly and efficiently.
According to Stryde’s best practices, mobile optimization plays a crucial role in creating concise emails. A significant percentage of users access emails on their smartphones, your emails should be written with brevity in mind as smaller screens require concise messaging.
Tips for Keeping Your Ecommerce Emails Short and Engaging
Creating engaging yet short emails might seem challenging, but with the right strategies, you can craft emails that are quick to read and hard to ignore.
- Use Everyday Language: Avoid industry jargon and complex words. Write as if you’re talking to a friend. This makes your emails more digestible and enjoyable, allowing your brand to form a closer connection with your subscribers.
- Highlight Key Points: Use bullet points, numbered lists, or bold text to highlight the key messages in your email. This makes your email scannable and allows subscribers to quickly grasp the main points.
- Incorporate Visuals: Images, infographics, or GIFs can convey a lot of info in a compact space, making your emails more visually appealing and less text-heavy.
- Use a Conversational Tone: Keep your language casual and friendly. This promotes a feeling of familiarity and makes your emails more engaging.
- Craft a Clear CTA: A clear and concise call-to-action (CTA) guides your subscribers about what they should do next. Make sure your CTA is action-oriented and placed prominently in your email.
By mastering the art of writing clear and concise ecommerce emails, you can ensure your messages are received and understood, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. The next step in your ecommerce email copywriting journey involves crafting compelling calls-to-action, which we’ll explore in the next section.
Including Strong Calls-to-Action (CTAs) in Your Ecommerce Emails
In the bustling world of ecommerce, a well-crafted call-to-action (or CTA) can be the difference between a passive reader and an active customer. This potent tool can guide your subscribers towards taking the desired action, be it signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or exploring a new product collection. So, let’s dive into the role of CTAs in your ecommerce emails and explore effective strategies to make them truly compelling.
The Role of CTAs in Guiding Your Subscribers’ Actions
A call-to-action is like a signpost on the road of your email content, directing the reader towards their next destination. It is a crucial part of your email that should prompt the reader to take a specific action, further engaging them with your brand. In ecommerce emails, CTAs often aim to direct subscribers towards making a purchase or learning more about a product or service.
A well-executed CTA can increase conversions, drive sales, and contribute to the overall success of your email marketing campaign. However, a poorly crafted one can leave your subscribers confused about what to do next, leading to lost opportunities and reduced engagement.
Tips for Crafting Effective CTAs in Your Ecommerce Emails
- Use Action Verbs: Start your CTA with a strong action verb that prompts your subscribers to take action. Words like ‘buy’, ‘shop’, ‘discover’, ‘explore’, ‘learn’ are powerful triggers that can encourage clicks.
- Create a Sense of Urgency: CTAs that convey urgency, such as “Shop Now”, “Limited Time Offer”, or “Enroll Today” can motivate your subscribers to act immediately, rather than delaying their decision.
- Make it Stand Out: Use a color combination that contrasts with the rest of your email to make your CTA button or link stand out. This helps grab the attention of even those subscribers who merely skim through your email.
- Keep it Concise and Clear: Your CTA should be short, clear, and to the point. Avoid ambiguous language or jargon that might confuse your subscribers.
- Align with Your Email Content: Ensure your CTA is in line with your email content. If your email is about a new product collection, your CTA should direct your subscribers to that collection, not to a random page on your website.
- Test Your CTAs: Use A/B testing to find out which CTAs resonate best with your subscribers. By testing different versions of your CTAs, you can refine them based on actual data and improve their effectiveness over time.
Remember, a strong CTA is more than just a button or link—it’s a crucial step towards converting your email subscribers into loyal customers. By incorporating these tips into your ecommerce email copywriting, you can create compelling CTAs that guide your subscribers’ actions and contribute to your overall business growth.
Testing Your Ecommerce Email Copy for Optimal Results
The journey to ecommerce success through email copywriting doesn’t end after drafting a persuasive copy or crafting a compelling CTA. The final, and arguably the most critical step, is testing your email copy. This is where data-driven decision-making comes into play as you delve into the realm of A/B testing.
The Importance of A/B Testing in Email Copywriting
In the fast-paced world of ecommerce, there’s no room for guesswork. To ensure that your email copy resonates with your audience, you need to rely on data and analytics. This is where A/B testing, also known as split testing, becomes your ally.
A/B testing is important and allows you to experiment with different parts of your email copy, from subject lines and content variations to design elements. By comparing the performance of two versions of your email, you will be able to identify what works best for your audience. This strategic approach to email copywriting can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates, making it a valuable tool in your ecommerce arsenal.
How to Conduct A/B Testing for Your Ecommerce Emails
Conducting an A/B test for your ecommerce emails doesn’t have to be complex. Start by choosing one element of your email to test at a time. This could be your subject line, the wording of your CTA, the placement of images, or even the timing of your email send.
Next, create two versions of your email: one with the original element (known as the ‘control’) and one with the modified element (the ‘variation’). Send these emails to two equally sized and randomly selected segments of your email list.
Monitor the performance of each version, while paying close attention to key metrics like click-through rates, open rates, and conversion rates. The version that performs better in these key areas is the winner.
Remember, A/B testing is a continuous process that requires regular testing and fine-tuning. With each test, you gain more insights into your audience’s preferences and behaviors, enabling you to craft more effective ecommerce email campaigns.
By harnessing the power of A/B testing in your email copywriting, you’re not just guessing what your audience wants – you’re making strategic decisions based on real data. This is the kind of informed approach that can propel your ecommerce brand towards greater success.
Building and Growing Your Ecommerce Email List
In the bustling world of ecommerce, the success of your business hangs on the strength of your email list. This asset is vital, not only for reaching out to potential customers, but also for maintaining long-term relationships with existing ones. Let’s delve into the role these lists play and explore some proven strategies for bolstering your subscriber base.
The Role of Email Lists in Successful Email Marketing Campaigns
A robust email list is your golden ticket to the hearts and inboxes of your customers. Unlike other platforms, your email list is a proprietary asset that no one else in the world has but you. And that’s no small advantage. This unique data serves as a springboard for building value, fostering engaged relationships, and increasing customer lifetime value. It forms the backbone of your email marketing campaigns, enabling you to provide personalized opportunities and touchpoints that non-subscribers won’t get. Remember, your email subscribers are not just any customers – they are your VIPs!
Strategies for Growing Your Ecommerce Email List
Growing your ecommerce email list is an art in itself. Here are some proven strategies to expand your subscriber base:
- Optimize Your Opt-In Forms: Start by strategically placing opt-in forms on your website. Make them easy to fill out and ensure they clearly communicate the benefits of subscribing. Remember, your opt-in form is your first point of interaction with potential subscribers – make it count!
- Create Compelling Lead Magnets: While a generic 10% discount is common, think outside the box to create offers that truly resonate with your customers. Whether it’s an exclusive e-book, a free trial, or a unique product bundle, a compelling lead magnet can significantly boost your subscription rates.
- Leverage Social Media Integration: Integrate subscription opportunities seamlessly into your social media channels. This allows users to subscribe directly from their preferred platforms, making the process more user-friendly and efficient.
- Implement Abandoned Cart Emails: Convert lost sales into potential subscribers. By sending an abandoned cart email, you not only recover lost sales but also have the opportunity to turn these customers into email subscribers.
In today’s digital age, building and growing your ecommerce email list is non-negotiable. With a robust subscriber base, you are well on your way to creating killer ecommerce email campaigns that not only resonate with your customers but also drive your business growth.
Conclusion: Maximizing Your Ecommerce Success with Effective Email Copywriting
Paving the road to ecommerce success is, undoubtedly, a task that demands strategic planning and execution. One key element in this process, as we’ve explored, is effective email copywriting. The art of crafting compelling, personalized, and action-inspiring email copy is a game-changer for any ecommerce business looking to scale beyond the $10 million mark.
Through the power of creative subject lines, we’ve seen how you can entice your audience to open your emails and engage with your content. By leveraging the familiarity of everyday language and adapting your writing to your target audience, you can foster a sense of connection that turns prospects into loyal customers.
We’ve also touched upon the importance of clear, concise, and mobile-optimized content in ensuring that your messaging resonates with today’s smartphone-dependent consumers. With strong CTAs, your emails can become powerful conversion tools that drive your audience towards desired actions, ultimately boosting your sales.
Moreover, the practice of A/B testing and continuous improvement, grounded in data-driven decision-making, empowers you to refine your email copywriting strategy over time. By understanding what will resonate with your audience, you’ll be able to tailor your content to meet their evolving needs and preferences.
Lastly, we’ve underscored the critical role of growing and nurturing your ecommerce email list. A robust subscriber base acts as a fertile ground for your email marketing efforts, enabling you to reach a wider audience while drivng increased conversions.
As we wrap up this exploration into ecommerce email copywriting, it’s clear that this marketing strategy is far from outdated. In fact, it’s a powerful weapon in your ecommerce arsenal, capable of driving significant growth and success for your brand. By implementing these proven strategies, you’re equipping your business to make the most of email marketing’s potential, and ultimately, to maximize your ecommerce success.
Remember, the journey to mastering ecommerce email copywriting is a process, not a destination. Continue learning, testing, and refining your strategies, and watch as your email campaigns become a pivotal part of your brand’s success story.
Laurel is a member of the executive team at Stryde. She’s been doing digital marketing for businesses for 10 years. Two years ago, she started set up her own ecommerce business selling baby gowns and knows the struggles of a small business owner. She loves talking about digital marketing, content, SEO, and conversion rate optimization.
