If you are an owner of (or work for) an eCommerce company, your aim is always to increase your sales. There are plenty of complicated techniques you may have come across – but let’s discover how a conventional approach can work really well.
Generally speaking, email has been widely used for several purposes, from a casual to a more formal context. Despite the fact that email has served us for over 21 years, not many online retailers make proper use of this platform.
Employing Email to Increase Sales
Email accounts for 7% of eCommerce transactions – making it the second most effective online channel. It is, in addition, the only platform in which your target audiences are accustomed to checking multiple times everyday. Read for yourself the numbers of email marketing:
- Email marketing has a ROI of approximately 4,300% (Direct Marketing Association)
- Email marketing networks enable 10-25 sales increase
- Customer lifetime value (CLV) is higher than average by 12%, while Twitter’s CLV is 23% LOWER than the average.Stop spending a bucketload on traditional advertising, and start doing email marketing!
The 5 Hacks
1. Get Personal
This can be carried out by personalizing your email address. That is, try setting your email account up to be accessible – be an actual person, like [email protected]. This encourages your customers to get back to you. A silly mistake from many companies,is that they use “noreply” email address.
Instead of your name, you may consider a simple-but-powerful word like [email protected]. It looks more approachable with better results than a “noreply”!
2. Your Subject line matters
The reason you have to keep your eye on the subject line is that it grabs attention. Your readers will base their decision – whether to proceed or not – on your first few lines.
Interestingly, Experian data revealed that subject lines have the greatest impact on email campaign than any other elements, such as creativity, design, frequency, and time of day. The number reaches 62%, followed by creativity which is as low as 19%.
As most people have a quick scan of their inbox, you should make it clear at first glance to your customers what you are offering. A general rule of thumb says you should limit your subject headline to 50 characters. Shorter is better.
Once your subject headline is good to go, make sure it gets the reader hooked within 4 seconds. Litmus, email marketing expert, claimed you have only 4 seconds to capture customer’s attention and let them open the email.
So,
- avoid unnecessary obsession with time of day
- spend less time on excessive fabulous content design
- do not perfect your “from” name, keep it simple
3. Don’t Be A Dogdey Salesman
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes by envisioning yourself getting countless sales emails daily. While they try to use catchy words to steal my attention, they are generally just marking their way to my trash.
An alternative way to creatively present your product or service is nurturing your customers relationship with your brand or product. Doing so means gift them insight into what you are selling. Take a look at Harry’s face wash for example. The company informs why face washing is important (from the link) and draws customers to their product.
4. Mobile-Compatibility
Graphic elements should be organized to fit mobile phone. Most of the time, people, like myself, check their inbox on the go. Aiming for mobile-friendly content saves time, while simultaneously simply appealing to your customers.
Moreover, essential information shouldn’t be crammed in images. Why? Because your email doesn’t really make sense when the images are disabled.
From the example above, it is obvious that it doesn’t tell anything. Immediate action: DELETE!
Thus, vital information should be presented in text. Images are only for supporting the written content. More significantly, ensure they relate to the content.
5. Appropriate Language
Your language has a dramatic influence on customer’s response rates, says a Boomerang study. Email language should be not too academic, yet still not way too casual.
Studies have also found using simpler language can boost customer response by 36%. Measuring your content readability can be done here.
Final thought
Email is the most simple, traditional way you can approach to your customers. But, simple doesn’t always mean uncomplicated. People always do it wrong when using such a simple tool to reach people. I suppose the rules of using email is much like the way you meet someone at their house.
Firstly, you need to be easily identified, so that the house owner can count on you. Then, greet them in a short, friendly way. Always make sure your conversation – your tone and dialogue, are applicable to everyone, as people are different. Lastly, do not exaggerate yourself. That’s it!
