After the seasonal surge, maintaining traffic to your online shop can seem daunting. Luckily, there are some simple email tricks you can adopt to massively increase your traffic and online conversion.
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Speak to a specific target audience
Get to know your specific customers, their online habits, their tone and how they like to be communicated with. Make sure your emails and content reflects that tone so that your audience knows you’re interested in speaking to them rather than trying to have mass appeal. Being specific and relevant will help boost customer connection and ultimately loyalty to your brand. Having a clear tone of voice will also help you stand out against your competitors.
In short: Use relevant and engaging language that is specific to your audience.
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Sell benefits, not features
Connect with new customers by highlighting the benefits of your product as well as a clear description of the item. For example, a candle company selling a lavender scented candle may choose to explain the benefits of lavender and the increased likelihood of sleeping better, feeling relaxed and the calming nature of the product. As an online shop it is also important to specify the product size, colour and even weight so customers can make an informed purchasing decision.
In short: Email customers about products and their benefits at relevant points during the year.
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Segment your email database
Don’t apply a one size fits all approach to email marketing. Your customers will have different habits and respond differently to messaging. Bombarding your entire database with the same emails over and over will annoy your customers and decrease the likelihood of conversion. Instead, monitor the open rates and click through rates of your emails and segment the audience into (i) likely to engage, (ii) moderately likely to engage and (iii) unlikely to engage. Consider these as three different audiences that each require their own messaging and communication. For your engaged audience, continue delivering the emails that work for them. For your moderately-likely to engage audience consider leading with a different subject line or a more image focused email. For your unlikely to engage audience consider a reengagement offer or referral programme.
In short: React to the different habits of your customers.
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Test strong subject lines
A strong and engaging subject line is the key to success. According to Hiten Shah, “33% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone.” Use online tools like this subject line tester to establish the effectiveness of your subject line. Also pull data from previous email campaigns to understand what subject lines work for your audience.
When crafting your subject lines, use power words. Power words are emotive words utilised by copy writers and marketeers to evoke an emotional or active response from your audience. These words are considered extremely persuasive and certainly influence your likelihood of conversion. Some examples of power words that inspire curiosity include:
- Secret
- Unveil
- Discover
- Learn
- Harness
- Uncover
- Join
- Confidential
- Hidden
- Insider
- Private
- Secluded
- Covert
- Under-the-Radar
- Clandestine
- Exclusive
- Distinct
In short: Write subject lines with strong power words and test them before sending
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Create urgency
An Experian report found that promotional or emails conveying a sense of urgency had at least 14% higher click-to-open rates, 59% higher transaction-to-click rates, and twice as high transaction rates compared to their average marketing emails. Much like power words, a sense of urgency prompts a visceral or emotive reaction. Many online shops do this well by altering potential customers when a product is low in stock. One way to do this really effectively in email is to let customers know that other customers are also viewing their item. Another tried and tested method is to let customers know that there is a time limit on sale items or other offers.
In short: Let customers know when demand for certain items is higher than usual or when a sale is ending.
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Send abandoned cart emails
Unfortunately sometimes we can do all the hard marketing work and a customer will still abandon their journey at the cart stage. The common reasons for abandonment can include high shipping costs, technical errors or a complicated check out process. Luckily, almost 30% of abandoned carts can be recovered with abandonment emails.
When considering an abandonment email address the issue that your customer may have faced. Let them know that they can easily complete the purchase with a few highlighted steps and give them the gentle nudge to return to their cart.
According to Active Campaign, The average ecommerce email open rate is around 15%. Abandoned cart emails are nearly three times as successful however with a 45% open rate.
In short: email a customer that has abandoned cart and ease them through the process.
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Organize your site with a clear payment journey and obvious calls to action
And finally it goes without saying that the user journey is of imperative importance when it comes to ensuring conversion. Make sure there is a clean and clear path from a to be to c and that your customers can move through the purchasing journey without confusion of excessive complexity.
This also applies to email marketing. Ensure your email has clear CTA’s and that any buttons link to where the customer needs to be. If you are using images in the email, hyperlink to the relevant product or landing page. Ensure buttons are clear and legible and that the customer will understand exactly where they are once they click through.
Also keep your payment process simple. Allow customers to easily fill in card details and ensure there are no unnecessary data fields that may slow down your checkout experience or concern your customer.
In short: Ensure your payment process is simple, clear and favourable to your wonderful customers.
Splink is the easiest way to accept payment online. Check out our fully customisable features now and optimse your online shop for more sales this year.
