Get Secrets That Other Email Agencies Won't Reveal
While just about every business in every industry can benefit from email automations, eCommerce businesses probably get the greatest value in our experience. But to get the most from eCommerce email automations, you need to know which to prioritize and how to optimize them for max ROI. Over the 30+ years we've been in business, we've worked for thousands of clients and created every type of automation.
By implementing the optimization tactics we'll be discussing in this article, we've been able to consistently achieve significant results like:
The point is, we know how to create revenue-boosting email automations. And while results may vary depending upon your industry and the products you sell, we've identified the automations that consistently provide the greatest ROI for most eCommerce stores.
So we decided to put together this guide ranking the top eCommerce email automations in terms of ROI. You'll learn:
While email automations can be used to accomplish many goals, their primary objectives are to:
Some email automations are great for generating immediate and consistent revenue, like Cart Abandonment emails. Others are great for nurturing leads so you can more effectively convert them later, like Lead Nurturing Drip Campaigns. And some are great for accomplishing both, like Welcome Emails. When ranking each automation, we prioritized revenue generation potential (both in terms of how quickly the automation starts making money and how consistently it produces revenue).
For example, our top pick is Cart Abandonment automations because:
But nurturing potential is also important. By properly nurturing prospects, you can increase the potency of all of your marketing campaigns, make converting shoppers much easier, and increase the amount shoppers spend. For example, subscribers who receive Welcome Emails show 33% more engagement with a brand thereafter. So based on those criteria, here are our top 8 ecommerce automations…
These are the 6 eCommerce email automations that have the most revenue-generating potential.
For each automation on our list, we'll explain:
In our experience, cart abandonment emails are one of the most profitable email automations for ecommerce.
Cart abandonment emails are bottom-of-funnel emails. In other words, they only target people making a purchase decision and have little to no nurturing value.
If you can only invest in a few automations, cart abandonment emails should probably be your first.
Cart abandonment emails are emails that get automatically sent to people who add a product to their cart but leave your site without completing their purchase. Cart abandonment emails aim to remind shoppers about their incomplete cart and influence them to buy the product(s).
Sometimes shoppers just get distracted. Something comes up before they can complete their purchase, and they forget to return to it. In these cases, simply reminding shoppers about their abandoned cart is enough to convert them.
Shoppers add products to their shopping carts because they believe those products will make their lives better in some way. In that moment, they're in an emotional state that's propelling them toward buying something. Effective cart abandonment emails try to return shoppers to the emotional state they were in during checkout.
They can accomplish this by:
The CA email we created for our client BOIE targets emotions by sharing a picture of the abandoned products and creates urgency by offering a 10% discount that expires soon.
Distractions aren't the only thing that interrupt the sales process. Customers may also abandon carts due to objections they have about your product or sales process.
Effective cart abandonment emails aim to identify and address those objections so shoppers will finish their purchase.
For example, customers may not know about your Return Policy. If a product is expensive, they might worry about buying it, not liking it, and being unable to return it.
You can handle this objection by prominently displaying your Return Policy in your cart abandonment emails, like we did for our client SixThreeZero:
We've placed Cart Abandonment automations at the top of our list because in our experience
When trying to increase revenue for your business, it's best to start by optimizing your existing sales funnels and maximizing revenue from existing customers. Acquiring new customers is 5x more costly and 3-12x more difficult than selling to existing customers. That's because existing customers have already gone through your sales funnel, while new customers have not. While cart abandoners aren't exactly existing customers, the same general principle applies: they're easier to convert because they're already further down your sales funnel.
To estimate how much you can earn from a cart abandonment email program, try these quick calculations:
If you had 150 abandoned carts last month, you could convert about 28 of them (150 x .1864 = 27.96). And if your average sale value is $200, you could make $5,600 from one simple, automated email campaign. Over 12 months that adds up to serious profits ($67,200).
If your CA automation is really good, you can get far better results. We were able to achieve a 220% increase in conversions for our client Autonomous using a cart abandonment email strategy. Also, consider that every customer who abandons a cart represents marketing dollars you wasted sending them through your sales funnel. CA automations also help you recover that lost marketing spend.
So if you really want to calculate the full value of cart abandonment emails, then you should factor in the recovered marketing spend:-
If your average cost per sale is $100, then you'll recover $2,800/month in marketing spend - bring your yearly ROI to $100,800.
For more info on creating Cart Abandonment emails, check out our guide: 20 Best, High-Converting Cart Abandonment Emails (+ How To Create Them).
In our experience, Welcome Email automations are the second-best automations for driving eCommerce revenue. Unlike cart abandonment emails, Welcome Emails usually target the top of your funnel and have both conversion and nurturing value.
Welcome Emails are emails that get sent to new subscribers who are just being introduced to your business.
While a lot can be done with Welcome Emails, their primary objectives are to:
Nurturing prospects begins with the very first interaction they have with your business. If you can nurture them properly from day 1, then converting them later becomes much easier. Welcome Emails are your opportunity to start things the right way with your audience, establish the foundations of a great relationship, prime them for conversion, and even convert some immediately.
While each business is unique and must make their own unique introduction, the two areas your Welcome Emails must cover are:
New subscribers are just getting to know your business. They don't know about all the solutions you provide and how you provide them. They don't know about any of your policies (shipping, returns, etc.). And they don't know what kind of emails you're going to send them. Welcome Emails are the perfect opportunity to pass on this essential information and answer any questions they might have. Doing so is a great way to address and eliminate any objections or friction customers may experience later on. As we discussed with Cart Abandonment automations, some shoppers abandon carts because they don't know your Return Policy. If you inform them of your Return Policy upfront in your Welcome Email, you may be able to prevent cart abandonment before it happens.
You should also use your Welcome Email to tell new subscribers what to expect from your emails, including:
Establishing these kinds of expectations can boost your engagement rate for future emails. By telling subscribers about the valuable content your emails will contain, you'll build their excitement and anticipation for future emails. By telling subscribers when to expect your emails, you'll ensure they'll be on the lookout at the appropriate time.
Establishing a positive relationship with new subscribers also requires getting them to like and connect with you on a personal level. These days, people have many options regarding who they do business with. All things being the same, people will opt to buy from a company they like and connect with over a faceless, inhuman brand. Even if your competitors offer lower prices, many customers will choose you if they know/like who you are and believe in what you do.
The simplest way to think about your brand is that it's made up of:
Even though they're a SaaS company, the Welcome Email we created for our client Reflectly demonstrates how to nail your personal introduction:
So use your Welcome Emails to tell new subscribers:
When did your business start and why? How do you want to improve your customers' lives? What greater impact will achieving your mission have on the world at large?
How are your products specially designed to better improve customers' lives and fulfill your mission? What other things are you doing to further your mission?
Decide whether you want to introduce multiple people or just have one person as the figurehead. We usually go with one figurehead, as it's easier for customers to build a relationship with one-person than multiple people.
The Welcome Email we created for Rankings.io hits all these notes perfectly by:
In our experience, Welcome Emails are one of the best eCommerce email automations for generating immediate revenue. Welcome Emails capitalize on the initial excitement and momentum that occurs when people first discover your business. If a person is interested enough in your business to subscribe, then they're likely interested in your products too. You can tap into this excitement by giving them an incentive to buy something, like a discount on their first-purchase.
By offering a first-purchase discount, you can:
A first-purchase discount influences first-time buyers to spend more because they'll want to maximize the value of the discount. So if you offer 10% off the first-purchase, they'll buy more so that discount applies to more products.
First off, the stats on Welcome Emails speak for themselves. They generate:
Welcome Emails provide opportunities for revenue generation in the short and long term. They enable you to immediately address common objections and prevent cart abandonment before it happens. They enable you to introduce customers to who you are and what you offer, setting the stage for a great relationship with your brand and increasing the potency of future marketing messages. And they enable you to generate immediate revenue by incentivizing new subscribers to make their first purchase. Influencing subscribers to make their first-purchase also serves a nurturing function. Ultimately, your products are your best marketing asset. The sooner customers buy your products and get value from them, the sooner they'll fall in love with your brand.
But more importantly, the more times a customer buys something from your store, the more likely they are to buy something again. After the first purchase, a customer has a 27% chance of returning. That jumps to 45% after the second purchase, and 54% after the third. When you consider that 41% of an ecommerce store's revenue comes from 8% of its customers - its repeat buyers - you see how important it is to get customers to start buying early and often. Your Welcome Email presents the perfect opportunity to get that process started.
For more info on creating Welcome Emails, check out our guide: 46 Fresh Welcome Email Examples (The Ultimate Guide)
Drip campaigns can be highly profitable, especially for businesses that sell high-ticket items. But they're especially effective for businesses that sell complicated products or programs, like courses, complex machinery, memberships, etc.
NOTE: Many types of email campaigns qualify as Drip Campaigns. Welcome Emails, for example, are a type of Drip Campaign. But we're referring specifically to Drip Campaigns that are created around a product with the intention of nurturing and converting leads.
A drip campaign is a series of emails that get sent to new subscribers or people who sign-up for them. If, for example, you sell a course on Facebook Advertising, you might create a 5-day Lead-Nurturing Drip Campaign about Facebook Ads. Each day, subscribers get sent one email that teaches them how to create their very first profitable Facebook Ad. Drip campaigns are great for both nurturing and converting subscribers.
Drip campaigns nurture subscribers by giving them something valuable and teaching them what they need to know in order to use/get value from your product.
In the Facebook Ad course example described above, the drip campaign might teach new subscribers:
By teaching subscribers how to get started and make money with Facebook Ads, the Drip Campaign is giving new subscribers something valuable. They'll not only be grateful for that value, but they'll associate your brand with it. In other words, when they think about making money with Facebook Ads, they'll think of you. And if/when they eventually decide to buy a Facebook Advertising course, you'll likely be the person they turn to.
While some products lend themselves to impulse-purchases, most products require some nurturing before shoppers will buy them. This is especially true for complex products that require a base of knowledge or specific skill set to use.
Before you can convince people to buy, you'll need to provide them with:
Drip Campaigns also remove friction that might prevent someone from buying your products. For example, many people know that Facebook Ads can be profitable. But they might be confused about how Facebook Ads work. That confusion can make the prospect intimidating, causing them to avoid it entirely.
But after completing the Facebook Advertising Drip Campaign, they will:
People who complete the Drip Campaign will be much easier to convert than those that don't.
If you need more convincing about the power of Lead Nurturing Drip Campaigns, the data speaks volumes:
Drip Campaigns are most effective when they target pain points and demonstrate how to resolve them using your products. So while a Drip Campaign on Facebook Ads would be good, it'd be even better if it was about eCommerce Facebook Ads and helped eCommerce business owners solve their specific advertising challenges.
For more info on creating Drip Campaigns emails, check out our guide: A Really Simple Guide To Email Drip Campaigns
Personalized Content is another type of automation that's great for nurturing as well as increasing sales. By sending subscribers content tailored to their interests, you can increase sales and improve your customer experience, increasing your ability to create lifelong customers.
Personalized Content includes automations that send email content that's tailored to each subscriber's interests. Instead of promoting the same products to everybody, each customer receives product promotions that they're likely to be interested in.
To create these types of automations, you must first create subscriber segments. The way you segment your subscribers is entirely up to you. But it should be based on data about how your customers shop and what products they're more likely to buy.
There are many great ways to collect data for segmentation. But in our experience, the best methods include:
Segmentation usually falls along the lines of demographics, psychographics, behavior, and interests. Your job is to figure out what criteria makes a customer more likely to buy specific products, collect that data, and use it to segment your emails.
Some possible segments you could create include:
Once you've built your segments, you must figure out how you're going to tailor your content to each segment. You can either send different emails to each segment, or send the same email with dynamic content to each segment. Dynamic content is content in an email that changes based on criteria you outline. So while the rest of the email is the same for everybody, one portion of it changes for each user segment.
Personalized Emails have short-term and long-term benefits. In the short-term, you can increase conversions for each email by sending products that subscribers are more likely to buy. In the long-term, Personalized Emails improve the customer experience for all of your customers. Sending non-personalized emails is a turn off. It makes customers think you're not listening to them or don't care. And it just increases the clutter of useless junk in their inbox.
But when you tailor your content to each subscribers interests, they'll enjoy your emails more. They'll know that you're not only paying attention, but valuing that attention. And the more personalized your content, the more likely they are to buy. The more they buy from you, the more they'll continue to buy from you.
For more info on creating Personalized Emails, check out our services: Email Strategy and Audit- Is your Email Marketing Producing The Desired Results?
Upselling is a great way to not only increase revenue, but also to increase the average amount your customers spend on your products. They don't really serve a nurturing function. But they're a great, consistent revenue generator.
Upselling is when you promote an additional product that's related to one a customer has just purchased or is in the process of purchasing. So if a customer buys your protein powder, you try to get them to also buy your shaker cup or blender. To create upsell emails, you must identify what products to upsell, when to upsell them, and how to upsell them. Start by identifying complimentary products. You can either group related products based on intuition (as in the protein powder example above), or group them based on actual data you have about what products customers buy in tandem.
Once you know what products to upsell, you must determine how you're going to upsell. The best places include:
after a customer purchases a product, send a follow up email asking if they want to buy this additional product (maybe even include a discount to sweeten the pot.)
For our client BOIE, we created this follow-up email which promotes their other grooming products:
when you email customers a receipt for a purchase, include some products that they might also want to buy.
in addition to promoting the product a shopper abandoned, you can also promote additional products they may be interested in.
when you send emails promoting one of your products, you can include dynamic content that promotes related products as well.
For our client Ardent, we created this email that promotes their Infusion Sleeves, we promoted two of their Infusion Kits as well.
Upsell emails are an easy, effective way to generate sales, increase average order value, and increase revenue. If you want to increase business revenue, one of the best places to begin is increasing the average order value with existing customers. As discussed, existing customers are much more likely to buy from you than new customers. So getting them to spend more money with you is easier and less costly than trying to generate new sales.
These automations are easy to create as well. If you go the dynamic content route, then you just need to create a dynamic automation for your transactional, cart abandonment, or promotional emails. Then segment that dynamic content based on the product a customer purchases. If you go the follow-up email route, you just need to create one follow-up email with a dynamic content block that changes based on the product the recipient purchased.
Drip campaigns can be highly profitable, especially for businesses that sell high-ticket items. They're especially effective for businesses that sell complicated products or programs, like courses, complex machinery, memberships, etc.
A drip campaign is a series of emails that get sent to new subscribers or people who sign-up for them. If, for example, you sell a course on Facebook Advertising, you might create a 5-day Lead-Nurturing Drip Campaign about Facebook Ads. Each day, subscribers get sent one email that teaches them how to create their very first profitable Facebook Ad. Drip campaigns are great for both nurturing and converting subscribers.
Drip campaigns nurture subscribers by giving them something valuable and teaching them what they need to know in order to use/get value from your product.
In the Facebook Ad course example described above, the drip campaign might teach new subscribers:
By teaching them how to get started and make money with Facebook ads, the Drip Campaign is giving new subscribers something valuable. New subscribers will not only be grateful for that value, but they'll associate your brand with it. In other words, when they think about running/making money with Facebook Ads, they'll think of you.
If you sell a complex product or one that requires a base of knowledge or specific skillset, then many people who can benefit from the product may not be in the position to buy it. Before you can convince them to buy it, you'll need to provide them with the knowledge required to use it and demonstrate its value.
Drip Campaigns also prime new subscribers for your sales pitch by:
Subscribers who do the Facebook Ad Drip Campaign have learned the value of Facebook Ads and will be ready to start creating them immediately.
Upsell emails are an easy, effective way to generate sales, increase average order value, and increase revenue. If you want to increase business revenue, one of the best places to begin is increasing the average order value with existing customers. As discussed, existing customers are much more likely to buy from you than new customers. So getting them to spend more money with you is easier and less costly than trying to generate new sales.
These automations are easy to create as well. If you go the dynamic content route, then you just need to create a dynamic automation for your transactional, cart abandonment, or promotional emails. Then segment that dynamic content based on the product a customer purchases. If you go the follow-up email route, you just need to create one follow-up email with a dynamic content block that changes based on the product the recipient purchased. Learn more about browse abandon emails here
The following email automations are also solid revenue boosters. Though they typically won't have the impact that the 8 automations mentioned above will, they're still useful for nurturing leads and converting sales.
And even though they're unlikely to generate significant revenue, many of them can be considered must-haves (like Post-Purchase automations).
As we said earlier, 41% of an eCommerce store's revenue comes from repeat customers. So you should put effort into prioritizing your repeat buyers to ensure they keep shopping with you.
Repeat Customer automations are emails that get sent to repeat buyers (anyone who's shopped at your store 2+ times) in order to:
Repeat Customer automations help you retain repeat customers and create new ones. There are many types of Repeat Customer emails you can automate. But the 3 key objectives they must accomplish include:
The first step to keeping repeat customers happy is learning about them.
So you should send automated emails to repeat customers that include surveys aimed at learning:
You can use this information to tailor your future emails to each repeat customer so they're more relevant. You can also use the info in your marketing strategy to create more repeat customers.
Repeat customers should feel acknowledged and appreciated for being the lifeblood of your business. You should periodically thank them for choosing you over competitors. If possible, try to include a personal detail, like how long they've been shopping with you or how many orders they made (e.g. "Thanks for 3 years with us!"). Something to show them you're paying attention. If possible, provide them with a reward. Rewards can include a discount or free shipping on their next order, a free gift, a BOGO deal, etc. Any gift works so long as it's valuable and something that only repeat customers get.
Repeat customers have shopped with you a lot. So you have a lot of data about what they like and spend money on. Use that data to send them personalized product offers that they'll like. You can share other products from your store that they might be interested in, complementary products, or upsells that go with their purchases.
As we said earlier, the more a customer buys from your store, the more likely they are to return. Your job is to make sure each customer's first purchase experience is as positive as possible so they're more likely to return again and again. A New Customer automation can help you do that by sending customers everything they need to have a great first experience and get value from their purchase. This can include:
Errors can happen. Sometimes customers don't get their products on time. Or the product they bought is broken, not what they hoped for, etc. Regardless of what the issue is, this negative experience can prevent new customers from ever shopping with you again. While you can't prevent every issue from arising, you can try to fix the problem as best you can. Your New Customer email should include customer service contact info and invite new customers to contact you with any issues at all. So no matter what the issue is, you'll have a chance to resolve it. Even though their first purchase experience had some setbacks, they'll know that you're a company that's committed to its customers and resolving their problems.
Your products are your best marketing asset. If a customer has a positive experience with your products, they're much more likely to return. You should use your New Customer email to send new customers information that'll help them get the most out of their purchase.
This can include:
You should also include surveys to gather feedback from new customers. Your New Customer surveys should include similar questions to your Repeat Customer surveys:
These questions can be used to tailor your email marketing content to each new customer and help you improve the experience of future new customers. Check out this simple New Customer email from Colorado Craft that hits all the right notes:
While it may not be a big moneymaker, your post-purchase email automation is one of the most important you'll create. Post-Purchase automations are a series of emails that get sent to customers after they make a purchase. When done properly, they can ensure that every customer has a positive shopping experience and is more likely to return. While these can be done as separate emails, it's probably best to combine them into a few emails so as not to overwhelm customers.
Your Post-Purchase automation can include:
Onboarding content is any information your customer needs to get started with their purchase. It can include set up/installation instructions, tutorials, how to content, product application ideas, and more.
The goal of onboarding content is to:
Great onboarding content creates positive customer experiences, happy customers, and repeat buyers.
Customer experience surveys are used to gather data about your products and shopping experience so you can improve your products and sell more of them.
If they enjoy your products, customers are likely to want to help you out. But they may worry that a survey will take up too much of their time. Which is why you should give some indication that the survey is short (by using the word "short" or telling them how many minutes it will take). You can also incentivize more responses by giving customers an incentive, like a discount on their next purchase. This Customer Experience Survey Email from Piperlime hits all the right notes.
This one is simple but easily overlooked. People like to be thanked and appreciated, plain and simple. So thank your customers for their purchase, and try to do so in a non-generic way. The more unique and heartfelt your thanks is, the more customers will appreciate it. You can create an entire, separate thank you email, like we did for BOIE.
Or you can just include a thank you in one of your other Post-Purchase emails, like Bajaao did with their service email.
Customer reviews are good for sales. So it makes sense to solicit reviews in your Post Purchase Automation sequence.
A good review request should:
Don't just ask customers to leave a review so you can get more sales. Frame the request properly by asking them to share their experiences and help other shoppers with their insight. Customers should be able to leave a review via the email you send or by clicking a link that takes them directly to the review page. And by throwing in a discount incentive, you can increase your review conversion rate. The Review Request Email from camera ready demonstrates what a proper request looks like. Customers can leave a star rating via the email and/or leave a longer review on their review page.
You can also automate your review requests by using customer review management software.
Win-Back Automations aim to convince lapsed customers to resume shopping with you.
They get sent to customers who haven't bought anything in awhile (exact time period to be determined by you) and prompt them to return to your store and make another purchase.
These emails are simple: just tell the customer you miss them and give them an incentive to return, like Sephora does in their Win-Back Email.
Birthday Automations are another simple but effective campaign tactic. They can be used to nurture your relationship with customers and generate sales.
To run these campaigns, you'll need to collect subscribers' DOB info at sign-up. Then create an automation that sends them a happy birthday email on their big day.
A good Birthday email will:
Topshop's nails both objectives in their Birthday Email.
Reorder Reminders are great for businesses that sell products that customers will have to order again and again. There are two types of Reorder Reminders. One type gets sent to customers around the time that their last order should be running out and reminds them to replace it with another order.
But many companies that sell products on a subscription model will send reorder emails alerting customers that their next order will be automatically placed soon. Customers that want the next order will know to expect it soon. Customers that don't now have a chance to cancel or delay their order before getting charged. While you may lose some sales off this type of email, your customers will appreciate you more and you'll foster a better relationship with them.
Every business in every industry can benefit from email automations, eCommerce businesses probably get the greatest value in our experience. Need help? See how our ecommerce email marketing agency can improve your email ROI. We help our clients identify the most profitable automations to start with and encourage them to invest in more once they see returns. Other clients hire us to improve their existing automations. We have put together this guide ranking the top eCommerce email automations in terms of ROI.
