On this interview with an electronic mail advertising and marketing skilled, we determined to dive deeper into the intricacies of making ready electronic mail campaigns for eCommerce manufacturers. As a number one electronic mail conversion strategist for SaaS and eCommerce manufacturers, Samar Owais is the go-to downside solver for corporations like HubSpot and Pinterest. By her Emails Executed Proper e-newsletter, Samar challenges trade norms and affords invaluable classes on electronic mail methods to entrepreneurs and copywriters alike.
On this interview with Stripo, Samar shares her profound insights into the important thing parts of a conversion-driven electronic mail advertising and marketing technique, the widespread pitfalls eCommerce manufacturers ought to keep away from, and the significance of personalization and localization in campaigns. Right here’s what she needed to say.
Interview Skilled
E mail conversion strategist for SaaS and eCommerce manufacturers, founding father of Emails Executed Proper
Constructing a conversion-driven technique
Stripo: What invaluable insights are you able to share about the important thing parts of a conversion electronic mail advertising and marketing technique for eCommerce manufacturers?
Samar: There are a ton of key parts that go into creating a method for an eCommerce model. My one recommendation is to ascertain your online business targets first.
What enterprise targets do you wish to accomplish via your emails? And sure, growing electronic mail income is a given. However how would you like them to extend?
- Would you like extra first-time consumers?
- Do you wish to improve your common order worth?
- Would you like predictable recurring income on your model?
- Do you wish to improve your repeat clients?
- Do you wish to improve your revenue margins?
Your targets rely upon the place your online business faces the largest block.
Some manufacturers have all the things dialed in, however their revenue margins are low. Others have a big pool of subscribers who by no means turn out to be clients, or most of their clients by no means return for a second buy.
Your technique wants to unravel or handle your online business blocks. Begin from there, and all the things else will fall into place.
Avoiding widespread errors and key efficiency metrics
Stripo: What errors in electronic mail advertising and marketing do you encounter most frequently when working with eCommerce? How can they keep away from them?
Samar: The commonest errors in electronic mail advertising and marketing after we discuss eCommerce initiatives are as follows:
- lack of give attention to buyer expertise;
- lack of personalization;
- an excessive amount of give attention to the model and never almost sufficient on the shopper.
Once I say buyer expertise, I imply listening to the place clients come from. What adverts, affords, or messaging they’ve seen, and whether or not the dialog that began earlier than they landed on our electronic mail record is continuous with our emails.
In case you’re including individuals to your record via a quiz and your welcome electronic mail doesn’t point out the quiz or their quiz outcomes, that’s an enormous missed alternative.
Relating to personalization, take into account sending the appropriate message to the appropriate individual on the proper time.
As for specializing in the shopper, when sending emails, ask your self, “Why are we sending this electronic mail, and why ought to our subscriber/buyer care?”
Stripo: What are the main efficiency metrics you utilize for eCommerce initiatives, and are they the identical throughout all technique areas?
Samar: The extra I work with manufacturers, the extra I consider that we give an excessive amount of significance to electronic mail metrics. We’re normally attempting to attain a enterprise objective for our purchasers. For instance, our objective is to extend electronic mail income by 10% to fifteen% over the following 90 days.
The main target ought to at all times be on “How will we do this?”
For instance, we are able to ask ourselves:
- Will we leverage our current clients to purchase extra?
- Will we give attention to getting subscribers to make their first purchases?
- Will we give attention to growing the common order worth?
- What will transfer the needle the quickest?
So, when it comes to efficiency, I’m at all times occupied with the tip objective.
But when we’re speaking about electronic mail metrics, the very first thing I examine or ask a model to examine is its electronic mail deliverability. After that, the one efficiency metric I give attention to above all else is engagement.
Engagement is available in many varieties—open charges, click on charges, buy charges, unsubscribe charges, and replies to our emails. However my focus is normally on click-to-open charges.
How lots of the individuals who opened our emails clicked via? This metric provides a clearer image of how our emails are performing. It additionally tells us when we have to enhance our topic traces.
Challenges in personalization, localization, and gamification
Stripo: What are the challenges in implementing personalization in eCommerce electronic mail advertising and marketing campaigns, and the way can they be overcome?
Samar: My greatest problem with personalization is convincing manufacturers to look past first-name personalization.
As talked about earlier, my definition of personalization is “sending the appropriate electronic mail to the appropriate individual on the proper time.”
Now, there’s the same old:
- sending the welcome electronic mail to somebody who simply signed up;
- sending a post-purchase electronic mail to somebody who’s simply purchased;
- sending an deserted cart electronic mail to somebody who added objects to their cart however didn’t end trying out.
However I at all times wish to transcend surface-level personalization. Who’s been shopping for your merchandise recurrently? Inform them about your subscription provide! If somebody’s been shopping for shirts, ship them a “This can go very well with…” electronic mail.
Your clients’ procuring patterns inform you a large number about them. Use this data to your benefit, and personalize your emails and affords accordingly.
Stripo: How necessary is localization in eCommerce electronic mail advertising and marketing, and what are the important thing concerns? What methods do you advocate for creating electronic mail campaigns tailor-made to totally different areas and cultures?
Samar: Love that you just requested this query.
Localization is necessary since you wouldn’t ship a Christmas electronic mail to clients of a model in a Muslim nation. You’d discover out when sure nations rejoice Mom’s Day and Father’s Day, and be sure you ship these campaigns on the proper time for every location.
However in the case of religions and cultures, I’m a giant advocate for celebrating all of them. The world has turn out to be extremely multicultural. Simply as we don’t section Christmas emails, we don’t have to section Eid, Hanukkah, or Holy emails.
Everybody is aware of what these are. Everybody is aware of somebody who celebrates these occasions. We will at all times use desire facilities to get individuals to choose out of those emails.
Stripo: What do you consider utilizing gamification and interactive emails for eCommerce? What gamification mechanics have you ever discovered to be simplest in participating clients?
Samar: I really like gamification and discovering methods to make clicking enjoyable for subscribers. Gamification doesn’t should be complicated. You don’t should customized code emails, use totally different instruments, or sacrifice electronic mail design for the sake of gamifying an electronic mail.
Gamification may be so simple as asking subscribers which colour they like finest and that includes the identical product in two totally different colours, asking which shirt goes with which pants, or that includes three merchandise and asking them what they’d take with them on a street journey.
Wrapping up
We’re grateful to Samar Owais for sharing her skilled insights and sensible recommendation on optimizing eCommerce electronic mail advertising and marketing methods. Her strategy to electronic mail technique, personalization, and localization gives a transparent path to attaining higher outcomes for any model.
Listed here are some insights into electronic mail advertising and marketing traits and methods that we’ve got obtained from this interview:
- Begin with enterprise targets: Concentrate on fixing your model’s greatest challenges, and let your electronic mail technique comply with from there.
- Prioritize buyer expertise: Guarantee your emails keep the dialog began earlier than clients be part of your record, and at all times give attention to their wants fairly than simply selling the model.
- Engagement over metrics: Whereas electronic mail metrics matter, prioritize engagement, particularly click-to-open charges, to gauge the true impression of your campaigns.
- Transcend primary personalization: Leverage buyer conduct and procuring patterns to create personalised, related emails that resonate along with your viewers.
Following Samar’s recommendation, manufacturers can craft electronic mail advertising and marketing campaigns that convert and construct long-term buyer relationships.
