You may have asked yourself, “is email marketing still worth it for ecommerce in 2024?” And our answer is… absolutely! When done right, email marketing delivers an excellent ROI while building meaningful relationships with your customers. This article will explore why email marketing is still a top performer in 2024 and provide our tips to keep your email marketing up-to-date with the times.
Why Email Marketing?
Email open and click-through rates have been declining in recent years. But here are some compelling reasons it will continue to be effective for ecommerce:
– Massive reach: Almost 4 billion people worldwide use email, with 306.4 billion emails sent and received daily. There’s simply no better way to reach customers directly in their inbox.
– High ROI: Email marketing has an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent, the highest of any marketing channel. Better list segmentation, personalization, automation, and analytics make it even more cost-effective.
– Drives sales: 72% of consumers prefer to receive promotional content through email over social media. And email drives 19% of all online retail sales.
– Builds loyalty: Brands that get email marketing right see higher customer retention and lifetime value.
– Flexibility: Email works well with other channels like social media and paid ads. It can promote products, share content, retarget site visitors, recover abandoned carts, and so much more.
Clearly, email marketing will continue to deliver results. Now let’s look at some key trends shaping the future of ecommerce email.
Upcoming Email Marketing Trends
Email marketing tactics will need to get smarter to stand out and speak to your customers. Expect to see things like:
– More personalization: Segmentation and personalized content based on interests, behaviors, and purchase history will become the norm. AI will help scale 1:1 messages.
– Video: Short videos in emails can demonstrate products, share testimonials, provide how-tos, and make connections.
– Customer journeys: Emails will focus on guiding subscribers through pre-defined journeys specific to each persona and objective.
– Automation: Workflows triggered by behaviors will send timely, relevant information and offers without brands having to do all the work.
– Privacy focus: Features like improved unsubscribe flows and selective data sharing will build consumer trust.
The key is to continually test and optimize your strategy. Pay close attention to open and engagement metrics as well as the customer experience. Build trust by providing value, not just sales pitches. With a thoughtful, customer-centric approach, email marketing can drive measurable results for your ecommerce biz well into the future.
Want a free, no-obligation audit of your email marketing campaigns to increase your revenue in 2024? Schedule your audit with us today!
Turning one-time shoppers into repeat customers – that’s the golden ticket in ecommerce today. After all, repeat customers spend 67% more than new customers. So what’s considered a good repeat customer rate in ecommerce? And how can you benchmark your performance to know if you’re on the right track?
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know. By the end, you’ll have actionable insights to stack the odds in your favor for turning new shoppers into lifelong customers.
What is a Repeat Customer Rate?
“Repeat customer rate” is the percentage of customers who have purchased from your store more than once. It’s a metric that indicates how well you convert first-time buyers into repeat buyers.
The formula is simple:
Repeat Customer Rate = Total Number of Repeat Customers / Total Number of Customers
But why does repeat rate matter so much? Well, loyal customers are hugely profitable for several reasons:
– They convert at higher rates – Repeat customers convert 50% more often because they trust your brand.
– They spend more money – As mentioned, repeat customers spend 67% more per transaction.
– They cost less to convert – It’s estimated to be 5x cheaper to retain a customer than acquire a new one.
– They refer friends – Referrals are your best customers, spending 2x more than average.
– They forgive mistakes – Loyal customers will cut you more slack if problems arise.
So in short, a high repeat rate provides a foundation for long-term success. Let’s look at what good benchmarks are.
Benchmarks for Excellent, Good, and Average Repeat Rates
What constitutes an excellent, good or average repeat customer rate in ecommerce? While there are no definitive standards, we can look at benchmarks from leading retailers:
As you can see, anything over 50% is admirable. Of course, benchmarks also depend on the type of product you sell. For example, subscription services and grocery delivery tend to enjoy higher repeat rates.
The key is to track your own repeat rate over time and aim for continuous improvement. Let’s talk about how to calculate that magic number.
Calculating Your Repeat Customer Rate
Figuring out your repeat customer percentage takes just a few simple steps:
1. Identify your total number of customers
Pull a customer list from your CRM and tally the total number of individual customers, including both first-time and returning.
2. Identify total number of repeat customers
Filter your list to count how many of those customers have ordered more than once. Alternatively, you can pull a report of their order history to specify “customers with 2+ orders” or more.
3. Plug the numbers into the formula
Repeat Customer Rate = Total Repeat Customers / Total Customers
For example, if you have:
10,000 total customers
4,000 repeat customers
Your repeat rate would be 4,000 / 10,000 = 40%
That’s it! Track this monthly to measure progress. Now let’s get into proven ways to improve it.
6 Strategies to Increase Repeat Customers
Provide 5-Star Service
Service can make or break the post-purchase experience. Train support staff to deliver friendly, empathetic assistance. Empower them to go above and beyond, like following up after issues are resolved.
Nail the Returns Process
Returns are inevitable – but they present an opportunity. Studies show 75% of customers would shop with a retailer again after a seamless returns experience. Make it easy to initiate and track returns.
Email generates $42 for every $1 spent. Promote new arrivals, share curated content, and offer exclusive discounts to subscribed customers. Just avoid over-promoting.
Double Down on Quality
Never compromise on product quality – defects result in high returns and destroy trust. Likewise, ship orders professionally and quickly. This shows you value customers’ time.
Wrapping Up
Lifelong customers are the rock of a profitable ecommerce biz. While acquiring new shoppers is tough, getting them to return and spend more demonstrates the success of top ecommerce brands.
Now you’re equipped with actionable tips to turn first-time buyers into your best repeat customers. So get out there, start analyzing your repeat rate, and build experiences your customers won’t forget.
One of the most crucial components of an effective SMS strategy is your sending schedule. Finding the optimal cadence and send times can significantly impact your open and click-through rates. In this article, we’ll explore how often you should send SMS campaigns, the best times to send messages, and tips for creating the ideal SMS schedule for your business. Let’s dive in!
How Often Should You Send SMS Marketing Campaigns?
When launching SMS marketing, one of the biggest questions is: how often should you send messages? You want to send frequently enough to stay top of mind with subscribers but not so often that you annoy them. Here are some best practices for SMS cadence:
Limit promotional sends to 1-2 times per week: Sending more frequently risks opt-outs and irritation.
Send cart abandonment reminders within 1 hour of abandonment: Timeliness is key for recovering lost sales.
Use SMS sparingly for announcements and shipping confirmations: These are timely notifications, not ongoing campaigns.
Avoid sends on major holidays: Prevent messages from getting lost in the shuffle.
Always honor opt-out requests immediately: Never spam subscribers who have asked to disengage.
The ideal cadence will depend on your industry, subscriber base, and business goals. Test different frequencies to see what resonates best with your customers and monitor opt-out rates to avoid overdoing it.
What Are the Best Times to Send SMS Campaigns?
Timing is just as important as frequency in SMS marketing. Ensure your messages are received when subscribers are most likely to engage. Consider these key points on timing:
Avoid early mornings and late evenings: People are unlikely to be shopping at these times.
Lunchtime (11am – 1pm): Especially effective for restaurant/food brands.
Evening (6pm – 9pm): Great for reaching people making dinner plans or relaxing after work.
Sunday afternoons: Ideal for meal kit and grocery delivery messages.
Mondays and Tuesdays: Tend to perform better than late weekdays.
Fridays: Statistically the worst day for open rates, but good for weekend-specific offers if sent on Thursday or Friday.
Sync messages with peak ordering times: Align messages with your business’s buying rhythms.
Always track open and click rates by send time to determine when your subscribers are most engaged, and refine your schedule based on the data.
Top Scheduling Mistakes to Avoid
Avoid these common mistakes to ensure your SMS schedule is optimized for open rates and conversions:
Sending too early/late: Avoid off-peak times when customers won’t see your message right away. Track opens to determine ideal hours.
Irregular sends: Random, inconsistent timing trains customers to ignore your messages.
Message overload: Limit frequency to 1-2 SMS campaigns per week max, unless transactional. More can irritate subscribers.
Short notice discounts: While urgency works, give customers reasonable time to take action.
No call to action: Every SMS campaign should include a strong CTA, not just a statement.
Not tracking data: Pay attention to open rates, clicks, opt-outs, conversions, etc. Data shows what’s working.
Copying email schedule: SMS is different from email—shorter, more urgent. Don’t just repurpose email content and timing.
Wrapping Up
Follow the strategies outlined in this article, and you’ll be on your way to SMS marketing success. Remember to always honor opt-out requests, provide value with your messages, and speak to your subscribers like real people. Do that, and SMS can become one of your most powerful marketing channels for driving conversions and sales.
Want to launch your first SMS campaign, or optimize your current one? Schedule a call with us to see how we can support your business growth!
Are you an ecommerce brand that wants to convert more website visitors into paying customers? Who doesn’t! With attention spans shorter than ever these days, it’s getting tougher to guide potential buyers seamlessly through the purchase funnel.
But don’t worry, we’ve got your back! In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive into the ecommerce purchase funnel and talk about strategies to optimize each stage. From awareness to conversion (and even retention!), you’ll learn how to turn window shoppers into raving fans. So grab your notebook—it’s time to blueprint your way to ecommerce success.
Essentially, it’s the journey a potential customer goes through when discovering, evaluating, and ultimately deciding to purchase a product from your online store. This funnel is typically broken down into four main stages:
1. Awareness: When a prospect first becomes aware of your brand or product offering.
2. Interest: The stage where they start researching and evaluating if your solution is a good fit.
3. Desire: If hooked, they enter the desire phase, seriously considering making a purchase.
4. Action: Finally, the prospect reaches the bottom of the funnel and takes action by buying from you.
Now that we’re all on the same page funnel-wise, let’s dive into optimizing each stage for maximum conversions.
Stage 1: Generating Awareness
It all starts with awareness. If prospects don’t even know you exist, they’ll never make it into your funnel.
Some top awareness driving tactics include:
• SEO: Optimizing for relevant keywords can attract organic search traffic on autopilot.
• Social media marketing: Strategic use of organic and paid social posts/ads.
• Influencer outreach: Partnering with relevant influencers to tap into their audience.
The key here is to go where your target audience is hanging out online and insert your brand into their world through content, ads, influencer recommendations, and more. Mix up your channels and messaging to maximize reach and visibility.
Stage 2: Building Interest
Once aware, your goal is to engage prospects by piquing their interest in your products or brand story. This stage is all about providing useful, compelling info that compels them to keep evaluating you as a potential solution.
Some killer interest-building tactics:
• Content marketing: Blogs, videos, guides and more that address their pain points.
• Email marketing: Automated nurture sequences delivering value over time.
• Reviews/UGC: Leverage the power of social proof with reviews and user-generated content.
• Retargeting ads: Stay top-of-mind with tailored ads as they continue evaluating options.
The more engaged and educated you can get a prospect on why your product is the ideal fit, the smoother their journey will be to entering the desire phase.
Stage 3: Creating Desire
This is the make-it-or-break-it stage where a prospect is seriously considering purchasing from you but needs that final nudge of encouragement. Urgency and scarcity tactics can be incredibly effective here when used carefully.
Some top desire-inducing strategies:
• Limited-time offers/sales: Who doesn’t love feeling like they’re getting a great deal?
• Product bundling: Make your offer even more irresistible by packaging products.
• Countdown timers: Simulated urgency and scarcity motivates people to act quickly.
• Personalization: Customize your funnel touchpoints to make it feel bespoke.
• Social proof: Flaunt all those glowing reviews and customer success stories.
The idea is to fan those burning embers of desire into a full-fledged craving for your product by making them feel like they’re missing out on an insane bargain.
Stage 4: Prompting Action
You’ve relentlessly guided prospects through awareness, interest, and desire…now it’s time to go for the grand finale and close that sale!
Some power-move conversion clinchers include:
• Foolproof UX: Streamlined, intuitive checkout process to reduce abandoned carts.
• Up-sells/Cross-sells: Maximize order values by suggesting complementary products.
• Exit intent popups: Recover abandoning visitors with can’t-resist offers and messaging.
• Retargeting ads: Hit them with juicy product imagery and promos one last time.
• A/B testing: Continuously optimize all assets and touchpoints through testing.
Remember, making the purchase experience as frictionless and compelling as possible is key to converting that final chunk of the funnel into loyal customers.
The Retention Bonus
Wait, we’re not done just yet! Too many ecommerce brands focus solely on acquiring new customers while neglecting their existing ones.
Repeat buyers are the lifeblood of long-term growth and profitability, which is why you must prioritize customer delight with retention tactics like:
• Surprise delight moments: Thoughtful freebies or gestures to strengthen that bond.
• Retention email flows: Educational content, special offers, and more delivered over time.
• Customer advocacy: Make it easy for fans to refer new buyers through an affiliate system.
The purchase funnel is never just a one-and-done transaction for ecommerce brands – it’s an ongoing cycle of attracting, converting, and delighting perpetual customers.
Wrapping Up
To quickly summarize our key blueprint for funnel success:
1. Go where your audience is and generate awareness of your solution through SEO, social media, influencers, PR/links, and more.
2. Nurture that initial interest and engagement with attention-grabbing content, reviews, retargeting ads, and compelling email sequences.
3. Once a prospect is seriously evaluating you, spark an irresistible sense of desire through limited-time offers, bundles, urgency tactics, and personalization.
4. Smooth the final path to purchase with conversion optimization like airtight UX, checkout process enhancements, and up-sells/cross-sells.
5. Retain happy customers by delighting them with rewards programs, exclusive surprises, ongoing value, and advocacy opportunities.
6. Continuously improve and optimize each stage of the funnel through extensive testing and data analysis.
This comprehensive approach to attracting, converting, and retaining customers through a hyper-optimized funnel is what separates ordinary ecommerce brands from industry leaders.
If you take nothing else away, remember this: constantly evaluate your ecommerce funnel! Even tiny tweaks and iterations to messaging, UX, offers, and automations can yield massive results when compounded over time.
Ready to upgrade the customer purchase funnel for your ecommerce store? Schedule a consultation and let’s discuss how we can support your business growth!
Artificial intelligence (known as AI) is completely changing the e-commerce industry. From generating product descriptions to analyzing customers, AI can help ecommerce owners work smarter and faster. If you’re a brand that fails to adopt AI, you risk falling behind the competition.
In our post, we’ll explore the top 5 ways leading e-commerce brands are using AI. Whether you sell products online or just want to learn about the impact of AI, read on for practical tips and examples of AI in action.
1. AI-Powered Product Descriptions
High-quality product descriptions are essential for any e-commerce business. But writing unique, engaging copy for sometimes hundreds or even thousands of products is time consuming. Smart retailers turn to AI-powered tools to automate product description writing.
AI-powered writing tools such as Rytr leverages natural language generation technology to turn product specs and attributes into readable descriptions. The AI examines factors like product features, target audience, and length requirements to produce human-like copy.
Brands can then edit the AI-generated descriptions as needed. The result? Unique, compelling product detail pages that take far less time than producing manually.
2. AI-Enhanced Product Images
Eye-catching product photography is another e-commerce essential. But editing and retouching product images is complex and time-intensive. AI visual platforms streamline this process for online retailers.
For example, businesses can use AI photo editing tools like Meero to automatically remove image backgrounds, apply color corrections, or upscale image resolution. This creates visually appealing product images at scale.
AI can also generate new product photos by varying attributes like color, lighting, and orientation. Brands use this technique to create multiple high-quality images for each product without costly photo shoots.
In addition, AI can identify ideal image cropping and help human editors focus their retouching efforts on areas that matter most.
Overall, AI visual platforms enhance product images exponentially faster than manual editing. This translates into higher-converting product detail pages.
3. Predictive Site Search
On-site search is crucial for helping customers find relevant products easily. But up to 50% of e-commerce searches return no results. AI-powered predictive search tools can help.
Predictive search uses data like past search queries, browsing history, and purchase data to recommend products as the user types. This creates a highly personalized search experience.
Predictive search reduces zero result searches, keeps customers on-site longer, and boosts conversion rates. AI enables retailers to turn product discovery into an intelligent, personalized experience.
4. AI-Optimized Marketing Content
Creating targeted, effective marketing content takes significant time and effort. AI content tools help e-commerce brands scale content production and optimize performance.
AI writing technology from Phrasee can be used to generate Facebook and Instagram ad copy. Email marketing is another area where AI can assist. Tools like Persado can analyze audience data to generate subject lines and email copy optimized for open and click-through rates.
AI can also write blog posts and other website content that targets buyer keywords and answers customer questions. This attracts organic traffic from search engines.
Brands shouldn’t rely fully on AI-generated marketing content. But AI can be a tool to help scale targeted, high-performing campaigns that drive sales.
5. Customer Analysis
Understanding your customers is invaluable. But sifting through reviews, social posts, and surveys is hugely time-intensive. AI sentiment analysis automates this process.
Seeing feedback trends and patterns in one dashboard allows brands to quickly address issues, showcase successes, and make data-driven decisions. AI reveals insights that would be impossible to detect manually.
The Bottom Line
The examples above demonstrate how forward-thinking e-commerce brands use AI to drive efficiency, boost sales, and improve customer experience. The possibilities are truly endless.
Here are key takeaways on leveraging AI as an e-commerce brand:
Use AI writing tools to automate and optimize product descriptions, marketing content, and other copy. This helps you create consistent brand voice at scale.
Employ AI-powered photo editing platforms to edit, transform, and scale product images faster than humanly possible.
Implement predictive search to provide customers with hyper-personalized product recommendations as they browse and search.
Analyze user-generated content with AI sentiment tools to identify customer feedback trends and patterns.
Combine AI with human creativity and strategy. The best results come from AI and people working together.
Adopting AI can take your e-commerce brand to the next level. Utilize AI now, and you will have a competitive advantage in the years to come.
Want to learn about AI in ecommerce, email marketing, product descriptions and more? Subscribe to Taco Tuesday for insights to support your business growth!
SMS marketing has blown up lately for ecomm businesses, and for good reason – it’s an effective way to connect with customers and drive sales. But be aware – you’ve got to make sure you’re following the rules. Non-compliant campaigns can land you with nasty fines or penalties.
In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know to keep your SMS game strong AND compliant. Let’s do this!
Why SMS Marketing Works for E-Commerce
Let’s start with a quick overview of why SMS marketing works so well for ecommerce businesses. Here are some of the main benefits:
Fast delivery – SMS messages reach recipients instantly, allowing for timely promotions and engagement.
Personalized – Texting has an intimate, personal feel that email lacks. Your customers will feel more connected to your brand.
Many uses – You can use SMS to send coupons, shipping updates, cart abandonment reminders, and more via SMS. The opportunities are nearly endless.
Easy tracking – Most SMS providers offer robust analytics so you can easily track opens, clicks, and conversions to optimize your efforts.
Low cost – Sending SMS can cost just pennies per message, making it very budget friendly. Plus, the ROI potential is extremely high.
Is SMS Marketing Legal?
Many businesses have questions around the legality of sending promotional or transactional SMS messages. Is it legal to text customers without explicit consent? What about existing customers who have provided their number?
Here are the regulations you need to be aware of:
TCPA – The Telephone Consumer Protection Act regulates marketing via auto-dialers and prerecorded messages. It requires prior express written consent. But SMS sent manually does not require opt-in consent.
CAN-SPAM Act – This act is for your customers who reside in Canada. It covers email marketing but does NOT apply to SMS. However, it’s still smart to provide an opt-in option.
CTIA Guidelines – These best practices recommend sending only transactional messages to existing customers or those who have opted in to receive alerts. For promotional messages, explicit opt-in consent is recommended.
The bottom line is you can legally text both promotional and transactional messages to customers who’ve given you their number and reasonably expect to hear from you. Just make sure to follow any time restrictions on when you can contact them – and only send offers when it makes sense.
For new subscribers who have not purchased from you, it’s safest to get explicit opt-in consent confirming they agree to receive SMS messages. Let’s look at some best practices for compliant opt-in procedures.
Compliant Opt-In Procedures
If you want to build an SMS list starting from scratch, you need compliant opt-in procedures to ensure subscribers have granted permission. Here are some tips:
Disclose – Be up front that you will send promotional messages to the number provided. Disclose your intended frequency of messages.
Document consent – Save subscriber data including phone number and consent date to prove they opted in intentionally.
Honor opt-outs – Immediately stop messaging anyone who texts STOP or unsubscribes. Maintain do-not-contact lists.
Use compliant language – Say “message and data rates may apply.” Don’t use “free offer” or other misleading phrases.
Send a confirmation – After opting in, send a welcome message confirming subscription.
Limit frequency – Only send a reasonable number of texts to avoid irritating subscribers.
Following these simple procedures ensures subscribers know what they signed up for and provides you documentation of consent should any issues arise.
SMS Campaign Ideas
Now that we’ve covered the key regulations and list management best practices, let’s look at some effective SMS campaign ideas you can implement today:
Abandoned cart reminders
Back-in-stock alerts
Order delivery updates
Customer satisfaction surveys
Exclusive promos
Product launch updates
Loyalty rewards
Event reminders
Contact requests
Each of these campaign types provides value to subscribers while giving your business an opportunity to generate sales.
Wrapping Up
SMS marketing offers too many benefits for ecommerce businesses to ignore. Following these compliance guidelines and campaign ideas will set you up for SMS success while avoiding any penalties. Remember to always provide value to subscribers, honor opt-out requests, and maintain stringent list hygiene practices.
With a thoughtful SMS strategy and the right tools, you can engage customers in a personal, exciting way. Start connecting with customers over text message today!
Want to try out or optimize SMS campaigns for your ecommerce store? Schedule a consultation and let’s discuss how we can support your business growth!
Email marketing remains one of the most effective digital marketing channels for ecommerce brands. By building an engaged subscriber list and sending relevant, timely messages, email allows you to promote new products, run targeted promotions, and re-engage past customers – all with impressive returns.
However, determining the right email frequency can be tricky. Send too little and you might risk hurting sales and engagement. Send too often and subscribers may unsubscribe to avoid spam, negating the work you’ve put into list growth. With inboxes more crowded than ever, the optimal email cadence is a moving target that requires testing and adaptation over time.
In this post, we’ll explore factors to consider when setting your email frequency. We’ll look at benchmarks from top retailers, analyze the relationship between frequency and key metrics, and provide recommendations on testing different approaches. By the end, you’ll have a solid understanding of maximizing open rates, click-throughs and revenue without annoying your subscribers.
Email Frequency Factors to Consider
When determining how often to send emails, the following variables should guide your decision:
Product Category – Frequency needs vary significantly by industry. Grocery/consumables may warrant weekly emails while fashion could space messages every 2-3 weeks.
Subscriber Preferences – Conduct surveys to understand how engaged subscribers prefer to receive communications – daily, weekly or less often. Their feedback should shape your strategy.
List Maturity – New lists may need weekly nurturing to build trust/familiarity. Mature lists of loyal customers can likely tolerate less frequent, targeted messages.
Campaign Goals – Promotional emails could go out weekly/bi-weekly while informative content suits a monthly schedule. Match cadence to objective.
Open/Click Rates – Frequent testing is needed as open rates tend to decline with additional sends. Track this metric closely to avoid over-communicating.
Unsubscribe Rates – Spikes here indicate the frequency may be too high. Too many unsubscribes at once may damage lists, so avoid overwhelming your subscribers.
Revenue Lift – Ultimately, frequency should maximize sales. Test schedules that produce the best ROI through increased cart/checkout activity.
By considering these factors unique to your business needs, you can establish a cadence optimized for engagement and results. Let’s explore some benchmarks.
Email Frequency Benchmarks
To get a sense of typical email schedules, we analyzed top retailers across various categories:
Beauty/Skincare: eg. Sephora, Ulta – 1-2 emails per week showcasing new items.
Books/Media: eg. Amazon, Barnes & Noble – 2-3 emails per week promoting new releases.
As you can see, weekly appears to be the sweet spot for most retailers, especially those selling consumables or perishable goods. Frequency then tapers for less time-sensitive categories. These benchmarks provide a useful starting point for testing.
Testing Different Email Frequencies
To truly optimize your email campaigns, split testing is essential. Continually testing different variables like frequency, content, customization and promotions will reveal the optimal strategy over time. A/B split tests should run for 6-8 weeks minimum before analyzing results.
Analyzing Test Results
When evaluating frequency test outcomes, focus on these key metrics:
Open Rates – Higher is better, but declines may indicate over-communication.
Click-Through Rates – Engagement should remain consistent or improve.
Unsubscribe Rates – Watch for spikes, which could suggest emails are too frequent.
Revenue per Subscriber – Frequency that boosts cart/purchase rates wins.
Repeat Purchase Rates – Engaged subscribers should purchase more often.
Look for statistically significant improvements rather than marginal gains. Well-performing groups that see higher engagement, fewer unsubscribes, and increased revenue should inform your strategy.
Be sure to test frequency changes for several months before making permanent adjustments. Ongoing A/B testing ensures you continuously optimize this critical marketing channel over time.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, determining the optimal email frequency takes ongoing testing and adaptation over time. Factors like your subscriber preferences, list maturity, campaign goals, and industry standards all provide a useful starting point. But ultimately, the schedule that maximizes engagement metrics like open rates and click-throughs, while minimizing unsubscribes and boosting revenue, is what should guide your strategy. Data-driven optimization through split testing will uncover the best practices uniquely suited to your brand over the long run.
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Ready to get started with a customized email marketing strategy for your brand? Schedule a consultation today!
Have you noticed your shoppers enthusiastically add items to their online carts, only to never complete their purchase? It’s estimated that over $18 billion is lost annually by eCommerce brands from abandoned carts. As an eCommerce business owner, losing potential sales in this way can be incredibly frustrating. But don’t lose hope – with the right strategies, you can recover many of those abandoned carts and turn casual browsers into loyal, repeat customers.
We want to share several simple yet highly effective techniques that eCommerce businesses are using to successfully reconnect with past customers and get them to finish what they started. We’ll look at best practices for communication and incentives that motivate action. By the end, you’ll walk away empowered with practical knowledge to significantly boost your sales without a major increase in effort.
Let’s dive in!
Understanding Why Carts Get Abandoned
Before jumping into solutions, it’s important to recognize why shoppers might leave items sitting unpurchased in their online carts. The top three reasons are:
They got distracted or busy – An online shopping cart doesn’t physically lock up items like an in-store one does. It’s very easy for customers to get pulled away to something else before completing checkout.
Shipping costs are too high – Unexpected fees at checkout can completely ruin the experience for shoppers. Customers might not have budgeted for a high shipping cost.
They found a better price elsewhere – With a quick online search always just a click away, it’s easy for shoppers to compare prices at the last minute.
Product questions went unanswered – Things like sizing details, delivery dates, or compatibility issues left them unsure if it was the right choice.
With awareness of these common barriers, you can craft targeted recovery strategies to directly overcome each specific objection point.
Send a Timely Reminder
One of the simplest yet most impactful tactics is following up with customers who abandoned their carts within 2 hours and another in 24 hours. Sending a friendly email thanking them for their interest and gently reminding them of what’s still waiting in their cart has been shown to increase purchase completion rates by 15-30%.
The key is keeping the reminder friendly and non-pushy. For example, you could say “Just wanted to let you know those items are still here if you decide to checkout today. Let me know if you have any other questions!” This light touch helps shoppers feel they haven’t been forgotten without any pressure to buy.
Offer a Discount to Seal the Deal
Giving people an incentive or reason to act immediately can be highly persuasive for fence-sitters. Sending abandoned cart customers a limited-time discount code is proven to get more of them over the line.
The discount acknowledges their previous interest while also creating a sense of urgency since the promotional code will expire within a set timeframe. Be sure to clearly state the expiration date right in the email subject line, such as “5% off today only for these items!”.
Address Their Specific Concerns Directly
When possible, try to directly address the exact reason a shopper didn’t previously complete their purchase. For example, if their abandoned cart included higher than expected shipping costs, you could offer free shipping on orders over $50 or provide local pickup options to eliminate fees.
If their items were available cheaper elsewhere last time, match or beat the competitor’s price on those products to remove any concerns about value. This shows customers you understand their unique situation and are willing to solve their specific problem, which builds trust in the process.
For product-based businesses, introducing a risk-reversal tactic can help indecisive shoppers feel more comfortable taking the plunge. Options like free returns within 14 days or a money-back guarantee if not 100% satisfied are very reassuring, as they acknowledge the natural hesitation people feel buying something expensive or important online without trying or testing it first.
Offering free return shipping may not align with every business’ profit margins. However, providing this perk could lead to a substantial boost in sales that offsets the associated costs. We recommend calculating the numbers to determine just how many additional orders may be needed to reach the break-even point for covering free return shipping.
Provide Helpful Educational Resources
For products or industries that require explanation, providing educational resources can help indecisive shoppers feel more informed to make their choice with confidence. This could include blog posts, eBooks, video tutorials, or live online workshops related to common questions around your offerings.
The goal is to reduce any knowledge gaps holding customers back from committing to buy. As an example, an e-commerce store selling computer accessories targeted towards seniors could share a helpful guide on “Top 5 Tips for Navigating Windows 10.”
Lightly inquire if their situation may have changed or if they have any other questions. The goal is to nurture them as a potential repeat, long-term customer – not just make a single sale.
Summing things Up
With some creativity and testing different approaches, there are many ways eCommerce businesses can successfully recover lost revenue from abandoned online shopping carts. The most important things are timely follow up communication, directly addressing concerns, providing value, and nurturing customers as long-term relationships – not just one-time transactions.
If you implement a few of our tailored strategies for your specific audience and products, we’re confident you’ll see meaningful increases in completed purchases over time. And remember – don’t get discouraged if some tactics don’t work immediately. Testing, optimizing, and continually improving is an ongoing process that leads to success.
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Ready to build an abandoned cart strategy for your eCommerce business? Schedule a consultation and let’s discuss how we can help recover your lost revenue!
As an eCommerce business owner, monitoring your competitors will help you thrive long-term. Studying what they’re doing right (and wrong) can provide valuable insights to improve your own marketing strategies. In this post, we’ll explore practical tips and techniques for conducting an effective competitor analysis.
Know Your Competitors Inside and Out
Start by making a list of your 3-5 main competitors. Spend time on their websites analyzing everything from product offerings to pricing, marketing campaigns, and customer experience. Pay attention to details like:
Popular product categories and bestsellers
Pricing strategies (are they undercutting you?)
User experience and site navigation flows
Marketing channels used (email, social media, ads)
Customer reviews and ratings
Shipping and return policies
Go beyond just their websites. Check review sites like Trustpilot, search for competitors on social media, and look at analytics tools like SimilarWeb to understand traffic sources. The more you understand about their strengths and weaknesses, the better positioned you’ll be.
Analyze Winning and Failing Tactics
Take notes on campaigns that seem to be driving sales. Are they running frequent promotions? Sending targeted emails? Running Facebook ads? Look for patterns in what messaging and creative resonates most with customers. You can then test adapting similar strategies for your own business.
Learn from Competitor Mistakes
Just as important as emulating success is learning from the failures of others. Analyze what competitors do well and where gaps exist. Look for underserved customer segments or product categories being overlooked. One leader may own the high-end space but ignore budget options.
Customer feedback and reviews also reveal unmet needs. Is poor service or a weak mobile experience leaving room for you to outshine others?
This ongoing monitoring allows you to quickly adapt if a competitor discovers a new marketing channel or product category that takes off. It also prevents you from wasting efforts duplicating strategies they’ve since abandoned.
Use Competitor Insights to Test New Ideas
Once you’ve gathered intel, it’s time to start testing ways to one-up the competition. For example, if competitors charge $5 flat rate shipping, try free shipping over $50 instead. Or if they rely on Facebook ads, try Snapchat or TikTok.
Give new tactics a few weeks to gain traction before evaluating success. And be willing to pivot if they don’t work as hoped. The goal is continuous testing and improvement based on what you’ve learned from your competitors.
For ecommerce sites built on platforms like Shopify, BuiltWith.com is especially useful. It can show which apps and plugins a Shopify store is using. This allows other Shopify merchants to get ideas for apps to enhance their own sites. Plus, it helps identify common capabilities that apps provide. If you want to see how another Shopify site implemented a certain feature, checking their BuiltWith profile is a quick way to discover the app behind it.
BuiltWith has become a go-to tool for developers, marketers and store owners to transparently analyze websites and gather intelligence on their technical stack and capabilities. It offers a clever way to gain insights from the online success of others.
Wrapping Up
The ecommerce landscape changes constantly, so staying on top of competitors is crucial for long-term survival and growth. Don’t be afraid to emulate strategies that have been proven to work. Constantly test new tactics based on weaknesses you uncover. Competitor analysis is an ongoing process, but it provides invaluable insights for boosting your strategy and results.
The holiday season is a special time of year as an eCommerce business owner. We get to connect with our customers in a meaningful way and, of course, sell our products. The festive marketing strategies you decide to use leading up to the holidays can make all the difference. In this article, we’ll dive into why holiday marketing is a big deal for businesses and how to create marketing campaigns that shine. We’ll even chat about how to measure the success of your efforts and sneak a peek into upcoming holiday marketing trends.
Why your Holiday Season Marketing Strategy is Important
There’s also a sense of urgency that comes with the holidays. People want to snag those limited-time offers before they disappear. This urgency can really give your sales a boost and build excitement around your brand.
Let’s dig a bit deeper into the psychology of holiday shoppers. The holidays have a way of tugging at our heartstrings and stirring up nostalgic feelings. When it comes to holiday traditions like exchanging gifts, decorating the house, and preparing special meals, people are willing to purchase products and services related to these traditions.
When it comes to holiday marketing, it’s more than just deals and discounts. It’s about tapping into those warm and fuzzy holiday emotions, creating a sense of urgency, and ultimately, boosting your sales and brand loyalty. Holiday season sales can make up a significant chunk of your business’s annual revenue, so giving it your all in holiday marketing can set you up for long-term success.
The first step in creating offers that’ll make your customers hit that checkout button is getting to know them like the back of your hand. What do they want? What drives their decisions? This knowledge will be your secret weapon.
During the holidays, your customers are bombarded with offers. To really stand out, you need to understand them really, really well. Understanding your audience’s quirks and behaviors during the holidays is key to creating offers that truly hit the mark. If your audience is full of busy parents, for example, your offers could highlight time-saving benefits or hassle-free solutions to make their holiday season smoother. Emphasize how your products or services can make their holidays extra special. Offer exclusive discounts, bundle deals, and limited-time promotions to create a sense of urgency.
Building Your Holiday Marketing Campaign
Crafting your enticing offers is just one part of the equation. You also need to build effective campaigns that reach your target audience through the right channels at the right time.
Remember, timing is everything. Start your campaign planning early so you can launch your campaigns with enough lead time to reach your audience. Creating a content calendar can also help you stay on track. Plus, keep an eye on those key shopping dates like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Offering exclusive discounts or early access can stir up excitement before the big day.
Wrapping Up 🎁 (Pun Intended)
In conclusion, the holiday season is a magical time for ecommerce businesses to reach new customers and engage previous buyers. Building an effective holiday marketing strategy isn’t just about choosing channels and timing. It’s about understanding the psychology of holiday shoppers. By making the right choices and telling captivating stories, you can create campaigns that leave an impression and resonate with your audience, even after the holiday season has come and gone.
There’s still time! Ready to build your personalized holiday marketing strategy? Schedule a consultation with us to get started.
