Valuable Tips for Email Marketing in E-Commerce

Email marketing in e-commerce is often overcomplicated. Brands test endless automation workflows, hyper-segmented campaigns and different email templates, but overlook a simple truth: it all comes down to your subscriber base and the content of your newsletters. In these, especially price & offer. Actually, you always win with these simple formulas. Consistently doing the "basics" well is the key to success. In this article, we want to focus on the following topics:

1. How to build a strong subscriber base
   

2. How to best combine automated emails with regular newsletters

3. Tips for choosing the right email marketing tool, A/B testing and segmentation+personalization

1. how do you increase the number of "good" subscribers?

In ecommerce, the most important and effective way to get more subscribers to your newsletter is to add buyers to your email list. It's important to consider the legal requirements here, but at the core, the goal should always be to sell more to existing buyers. Also, contrary to other opinions that you should "warm up new subscribers via content marketing" first, I am skeptical of this. This is a sensible tactic in B2B - but not normally in e-commerce. Tactics that use strong incentives such as competitions as a means of attracting new subscribers are equally ineffective, as there is no direct link to the purchase of a product.

Following this logic, the best way to attract new subscribers is to sell more. So far, so logical and fine if both are possible at the same time, but many people think that email marketing in e-commerce is actually aimed at selling more, not the other way around. Of course, there is some truth in this, but it depends very much on the method. On average, a repeat purchase from an existing customer is significantly more valuable than a first-time purchase from a new customer. Of course, there are also tactics and campaign modes in which the targeted creation of waiting lists for new contacts who are interested in a particular product or event makes sense. However, this tends to be the exception and is usually not a sustainable concept.

The best way, as mentioned, is to attract more buyers in order to gain more newsletter subscribers. Especially because these subscribers are really valuable. They know the site and the products and have already made a certain investment. But how do I get more buyers and subscribers now? In the end, subscribers are just a proxy for future sales. and the golden way is through discounted vouchers or loss-leader offers.

Insider tip number one for more email subscribers

Vouchers can either be sold at a discount (my recommendation) or regularly. These have the effect that they are given away or only used later, which leads to a certain lock-in effect. This is why we also recommend discounted vouchers. The discount should not be too high and the voucher amount should be reasonable within the average shopping basket. So, a €200 voucher makes sense if the AOV is €500. The discount on the voucher should be in line with the general discount policy. If you usually get an average of 10% with promotions, the discount should be around 10%. There are no limits to creativity here. We have already successfully implemented this "trick" with many e-mail marketing customers. In some cases, we achieved unimaginable sales figures, as this campaign can also be pushed well via affiliates, influencers and paid ads.

Tip no. 2 for more valuable emails

Decoy offers: Compared to discounted vouchers, "loss leader offers" are not only used to entice customers, but also to actually get them to make their first purchase. The system must be configured in such a way that only new customers can buy this product. Care should be taken not to set excessively high hurdles such as minimum order values or additional shipping costs, which indirectly make the product unattractive. Normally, a clever MBW and shipping costs policy leads to more than just the purchase of the loss leader offer anyway. Trial packs are popular offers of this type or strong manufacturer brands at a special price.

Unfortunately, there is also the problem of customers creating new e-mail addresses in order to secure discounts. Unfortunately, there are always black sheep, which does not make the mechanism any less useful. Address checks are often a protective factor here and at the same time a sensible basis for discounts and offers.ultimately, the margin for bait-and-switch offers or discounts on vouchers is usually lower than the expensive cost per lead from advertising campaigns, competitions or purchased lists. We are not even talking about quality. Accordingly, we believe this is the most effective way to acquire new subscribers.

2. automated emails vs. regular promotional newsletters

We have been working with some e-commerce clients for almost a decade and have found the following when planning email campaigns. Regular promotional newsletters beat automated emails 9 times out of 10. This is not to minimize the usefulness of automated or event-based emails, but to highlight their role in the process of generating more sales from existing customers and email subscribers. In our opinion, the following events in particular can be well mapped via automated emails and are part of all successful stores in one form or another:

• Welcome sequences

• Shopping cart abandonment

• Post-purchase sequences

• Birthday emails

• Reactivation or inactivity sequences

In addition to these standard processes, however, promotional newsletters are much more exciting and important for overall sales. The following structure has proven successful for us, but can of course be easily modified or adapted to different stores:

• A weekly promotion (also possible fortnightly or monthly for low repurchase rates and slower-moving products)
• Focused on one product group/topic
• Supported by 2-3 highlight offers (depending on the offer structure, there may be fewer or more highlight products)
• Always a uniform newsletter format

In this way, customers become accustomed to a buying rhythm, which makes the sales forecast more predictable, and it should also be mentioned that you should also work with segmentation here. We will show you exactly how in the third section - here the focus will initially be on the structure of strong campaigns and newsletters.

Email structure

Step 1: Introduction of the weekly promotion

At the beginning of the week, we send out a newsletter in which we explain the following

• What the promotion is
• How it works
• Which product group is discounted
• Which code to use, if applicable

The e-mail contains:

• A meaningful image
• A clear but simple explanation
• A button that leads to a landing page where all available offers within the promotion, the code and the general topic are listed.

This way, even new subscribers can understand the promotion immediately.

Step 2: Presentation of 2-3 highlight offers

Below the explanation of the promotion, we present 2-3 special offers that are part of the promotion. These are usually top sellers, new products or "paid" offers. We try to drive more traffic to these offers because we see a higher sales potential here. In the end, it's traffic × conversion rate = revenue. At the same time, customers still have the freedom to browse all promotional products, but we set the direction.

Step 3: Close with a general evergreen element

Every newsletter ends with a consistent and non-discount-driven element, e.g. a current competition, a download link to the App or Play Store or a link to a general product category. This allows us to push smaller topics at least a little and not just offer discounts.

The timing strategy: Remind before it runs out

We normally send out 3 newsletters per week. For other stores, however, more or fewer emails make sense. You should determine this depending on the number of newsletter subscribers, the segmentation, the engagement rate and the duration of the promotion. What should always be present is an email at the start of the promotion and shortly before it ends. Depending on the factors mentioned, you can send additional newsletters in the meantime. With this approach, it is almost certain that you will increase sales to existing customers, especially in the final days of the promotion. A skillful email marketing agency can certainly provide good advice here.

The big lesson: simplicity makes all the difference

Less is more. Don't overthink your campaigns. Email marketing in e-commerce does not have to reinvent itself every week. Use a recurring (weekly) structure. This saves time and simplifies internal planning. It also conditions customer behavior and makes it easier to plan for sales peaks. So build up a rhythm instead of random campaigns. If you need help setting up your email marketing or would like to improve your current system, arrange a free consultation with us and let's find out together how we can help you.

3. more helpful tips on tool selection, A/B testing and meaningful personalization / segmentation

The classic mistake in email marketing is the question of which tool is the best. The simple answer is usually Mailchimp, Klaviyo or emails directly via Shopify or the store tool in general. You often see an over-focus on individual functions and too much time invested in selecting and implementing the "right" tool - overlooking the real lever: sending good offers to the right customers.

Of course, choosing the right email marketing tool is important. But in practice, the differences between the tools are less decisive for most e-commerce companies than is often assumed. License costs should play a decisive role alongside simplicity and the experience of the people who take on the subject. All common tools can do the basics: send newsletters, set up automations, create segments and implement simple personalization.

The crucial question is therefore not: Which tool is the best? But rather: Which tool suits my setup and is used properly?

A/B testing: important, but often overrated

A/B testing is one of the standard functions of modern tools. And yes - it can be useful to test subject lines, images or call-to-actions, for example, but the problem is that many teams get lost here. They test details with marginally better results and call it optimization, but overlook the big levers again. We've already been through this a few times.

Focusing on the basis is more important and more difficult than less efficient testing. A/B testing is not really worth mentioning as long as the product, offer and discounts are not optimized. A good campaign with clear communication almost always beats a perfectly optimized email with a weak offer,which does not mean that A/B testing is pointless. But it should be used where it really has leverage:

• Which product categories work better?
• Which offer mechanics (e.g. % discount vs. bundle) perform better?
• Which topics generate more sales in the long term?

Everything else is fine-tuning - and should be treated as such.

Segmentation and personalization: less is more

The situation is similar with segmentation and personalization. Today, almost anything is technically possible, and the "promise" of achieving more sales through personalization rarely holds true. The main reason is probably that most stores do not have enough data or capacity. This is why overly complex segments are usually detrimental, as target groups become too small and campaigns too complicated. This usually only leads to errors and weak implementation overall.

In most setups you don't need more than 2-3 segments. Our most important segments are active vs. inactive subscribers (at least one of the last 3 emails opened) and buyers or non-buyers. You can get a lot right with just 80/20. In other cases, regional segments could also be very useful, but here it's more about the basic principle of "less is more".

Conclusion and final tips on email marketing in ecommerce

For us, stores that have less complexity in their campaigns and focus on the essentials are much more successful. Turning buyers into repeat buyers, regularly offering good promotions and attractive prices. They are already doing more than 80% right. In line with our final tip, choose a tool that you like and that makes sense in terms of price; send out good promotions and tests regularly and segment where it really makes a difference. Don't get lost in the minutiae, but concentrate on getting the big levers right.