Although SMS marketing is on the rise, it still has not replaced email as one of the most effective channels through which ecommerce businesses communicate with their customer base. By using email automation software, Shopify marketers can create effective, engaging Shopify email marketing campaigns to retain customers, drive revenue, and increase brand loyalty.
We're going to discuss tips for building an effective Shopify email marketing strategy and the best Shopify email marketing platforms to integrate with Shopify for your automation workflows.
Tips for Writing the Best Shopify Emails
First, let's briefly discuss some best practices for writing customer and prospect-facing emails for Shopify.
Think through the customer journey.
Each email you write should serve a purpose and clearly guide the reader to complete the intended goal. Some emails are promotional, like an email announcing a sale, while others are transactional, like an automated post-purchase thank you email. Always critically think through the process and the type of content to serve the reader.
Write a catchy subject line.
If your subject line is uninteresting, your email will not be opened. The subject line is the first impression you make with your potential reader. Best practices say that subject lines should be around fifty characters.
Send from an operational email address.
Because most marketing automation software separate the "from" email and "to" email, try to match the two fields. At the very least, it's best to It's always best to send emails from addresses that can send and respond to emails, so your prospects and customers can ask questions by replying.
Add a clear CTA.
Another seemingly obvious but often-overlooked detail in email content is adding a clear call-to-action (CTA) for the user. A CTA defines the action you want your reader to take. Sometimes, it's good to add the CTA at both the beginning and end of the email. For example, if you are promoting a new blog post, your CTA may ask the reader to click through to your website to read the post. Or, if you're selling a new product, you'll want your CTA to take the viewer right to that product shopping page.
In general, it's best to limit your CTA to one action, as calling for multiple actions at one time may harm your intended goal.
Types of Emails - Marketing and Transactional
There are two types emails- marketing emails and transactional emails. Marketing emails are what you think about when you think of a typical email, they include a promotion or a marketing message, whereas a transactional email includes important information for the user around a purchase. There are different rules and regulations around marketing and transactional emails, so make sure you understand the two.
Post-purchase emails are becoming a more utilized channel for email marketers as they have higher open rates than other types of customer-facing emails. Tools like Malomo help Shopify merchants re-market to their customer within transactional notifications with branded order tracking pages.
Transactional Email Marketing Campaign Ideas
Shopify transactional emails are triggered when a customer buys from you and they contain information about said order. One of the most important transactional emails a customer can receive is the order confirmation email, which is one type of Shopify order notification (others include Out for Delivery, Delivered, etc).
Order confirmation emails (purchase emails)
The order confirmation email (also known as a purchase email) is the most familiar type of post-purchase email. It's not really an option email. At this point in ecommerce, customers expect to receive an email almost immediately after the purchase transaction is complete.
But a purchase email can be so much more than an order confirmation email. According to data released by Conversio, who analyzed 12.1 million follow-up emails and 24.5 million digital receipts from ecommerce stores sent through their platform in 2016, digital receipts have an open and click rate more than three times higher than the average ecommerce marketing email send. Thus, it's the perfect time to cross-sell and offer product recommendations or coupon codes while you have your customer's attention.
Learn about other types of post-purchase emails here.
Marketing Email Campaign Types and Ideas
Email campaigns are divided into two main types of campaigns: drip campaigns or email blasts. The main difference is that email blasts are generally one-time emails or a one-time series of emails that are sent on a set date. These are usually around a new product announcement, holiday, or special promotion and are sent to your whole customer base or a segment of it
Drip campaigns are activated when users take a certain action (such as filling out a form, attending an event, or making a purchase) that triggers a cadence of marketing emails.
Welcome email and email newsletters
Creating a regular email newsletter can help foster brand loyalty and keep your subscribers engaged until they are ready to make their next purchase. Newsletters work better when they offer valuable or educational content instead of just product or sale announcements. A welcome email can be paired with a newsletter when users subscribe to your brand's community.
A welcome email can also be used to welcome new customers to a loyalty program, which is great customer retention strategy.
Birthday Emails
Another easy way to grow customer loyalty is through a specific promotional email—the birthday email, because (as you may have already guessed) it is sent on the customer's birthday. The birthday email will often contain a special promotional code or credit for the customer to use in honor of their birthday.
Abandoned cart emails
Abandoned cart emails are some of the highest converting marketing emails and they are an effective medium for retargeting. In fact, they work so well that most popular ecommerce platforms (including Shopify) offer native cart abandonment email functionality. Usually, these emails trigger automatically when a prospect adds an item to their shopping cart but then abandons the cart before completing the purchase. You can try offering free shipping or a small discount to entice the shopper to return and make the purchase.
Designing Your Marketing and Transactional Emails
The visual design of emails are important to give the best customer experience your company can and also clearly communicate information. There are a few things to keep in mind in terms of visual design when you are selecting which email marketing tool to use.
Email templates
The email platform you use will dictate the types of pre-made templates (both free and paid) that are available to you. Be sure to choose an email template that is mobile responsive if you are not creating a separate mobile-optimized site for your mobile web traffic.
Email builder
If you're just starting to build out your Shopify store, you may not have a lot of experience with HTML or CSS, in which case you will want to choose a platform with a robust visual editor, so you can drag and drop visual elements and text to make changes to emails and templates.
Email marketing services
If your email template requires custom development, but you don't have the necessary skillset, you can always outsource this task to a third-party email marketing service or Ecommerce Email Marketing Agency. They may also be able to help you write your email copy as well.
Email analytics and tracking
While not a design consideration, it's worth noting that it will simplify your life if you choose an email platform that has useful and easy-to-understand out-of-the-box analytics and tracking.
Resources for email design
If you would like to learn more about email writing and creation, plenty of online resources offer free educational materials like webinars that you can attend to expand your knowledge of email marketing. Here are some of our favorite resources for email design:
- Blog: Eight Creative Ideas to Beef Up Your Transactional Emails
- Podcast: Designing transactional emails and order tracking pages to generate revenue with Womads Founder Lisa Oberst
- Webinar: Capturing first-party data with interactive transactional emails
- Podcast: Email marketing and email templates for ecommerce brands with Liz Krupka at Nomadd Marketing
Types of Email Software and Email Service Providers (ESPs)
Shopify has basic email sending capabilities and also automated email capabilities that you can certainly take advantage of. However, some Shopify users prefer more sophisticated features, such as robust data reporting, integration with their CRM, or deep data integration. While most email software will add an additional expense, some of these platforms offer a free trial, so you can test the waters before committing.
Klaviyo
Providing seamless integration with Shopify, Klaviyo provides ecommerce marketing with advanced, user-friendly tools. A huge benefit of Klaviyo is its ability to pull data about your customers from Shopify, meaning you can send targeted marketing emails based not only on your recipients' characteristics but also on their purchase histories – or even their histories of items they viewed and didn’t purchase.
Attentive
Attentive started their Shopify app as an SMS provider and after it's major success in the market, started offering email to Shopify merchants.
Yotpo
Yotpo is a hub for all things email, SMS, loyalty, and reviews for many Shopify merchants.
Sendlane
Sendlane is another option that many Shopify stores choose as their email service provider (ESP).
MailChimp
MailChimp is an exceedingly popular email platform known for its pay-as-you go pricing options and even a free plan, but in 2019, it announced, it would no longer be offered on the Shopify Marketplace.
Omnisend
Omnisend offers sophisticated marketing automation tools that are best suited for sales-driven email marketers.
Shopify Apps That Further Enhance Emails
There are other Shopify Apps available directly from the Shopify App store to enhance email functionality.
Malomo
Malomo is an order tracking platform that lets you take control of your shipping experience. Customers track their orders 4.6 times and Malomo helps merchants turn all of that customer engagement into customer loyalty. Get ahead of shipping issues, brand your order tracking experience, and re-market to shoppers while they wait for their package to arrive.
Clipman
Clipman is a video-making tool that allows you to create stunning videos aimed at selling your products. This tool can easily be integrated with Shopify to create a buying experience like no other.
Afterpay
Afterpay allows shoppers to buy the products they want and pay for them over time. Afterpay is easily synced with your Shopify store, so sellers utilize this platform with no hoops to jump through.
GetResponse
GetResponse is best suited to larger businesses who are looking for more advanced automations, segmentation features, and a CRM to track customer responses and behavior.
Privy
Privy enhances mobile email marketing with nice touches like mobile-friendly coupon integration, automated A/B testing, and it integrates SMS texting for more effective cross-selling campaigns.
Conclusion
With all of these fantastic email marketing software options at your fingertips, Shopify makes engaging your customers easy and stress-free. A lot of marketers are also figuring out ways for their social media channels to grow their email marketing lists. Email can be an effective way to drive sales in your Shopify store. The best email marketing strategies begin with choosing the best email marketing apps, understanding the type of Shopify integration work you will need done, and choosing the best apps and tools. After insuring your content writing strategy fits your business growth and revenue goals, and your visual design provides a seamless and professional customer experience, you will be able to more effectively communicate with your existing customers and grow your prospect base.
Want to keep learning? Check out these related resources...
- 6 Shipping Notification Best Practices to Reduce Costs and Increase Sales
- Malomo x Klaviyo Integration
- Malomo x Attentive Integration
- Malomo x Postscript Integration
- Malomo x Yotpo Integration
- How SMS shipping updates improve the customer experience
- Eight Creative Ideas to Beef Up Your Transactional Emails
- How To Communicate Delivery Delays To Customers
- 9 Best Practices for Ecommerce Order Confirmation Emails
- 6 Revenue-Generating Order Status Emails You May be Missing
- Create Order Confirmation Email Klaviyo
- Take your SMS strategy up a notch with Klaviyo & Malomo
