It’s important to keep in contact with customers
The title of this blog makes a bold claim, and I believe that it can be justified. Please bear with me while I make the case that email marketing is the best way to increase sales for ecommerce businesses.
By Chris Barling, SellerDeck
When we did a survey of SellerDeck ecommerce customers a year or two ago, we found that while nearly half (48%) of stores used pay-per-click marketing with Google, only a third (36%) used email to drum up business.
Of course there are two types of email marketing – new customer acquisition, and promoting customer loyalty. I want to talk about the second, as it’s the first that is mostly associated with spam and is generally much more expensive, while also being more difficult.
I remember visiting one particular customer. To get to their premises was a long drive around the edge of Dartmoor. When I arrived, the business was located in a farm-like industrial building in the middle of nowhere. Despite this it was very successful and sales were growing strongly. It had found a great niche which was largely uncontested.
During our discussions I asked the owner whether he did any email marketing. His reaction was quite strong: “Oh no, we don’t do things like that”. He wasn’t in the mood to be contradicted, but I believe this is a dangerous reaction. No-one gets a free ride for long, and you can be sure that you will get smart competitors that will be using every method they can to win your business.
Why you need to email customers
If you have products which are likely to be re-ordered or where customers also buy similar items, then your best opportunity lies with previous buyers, provided you gave them good service. Why? Because they already know you, you already know them and they have proved that they will buy online from you.
In other words, they are exactly the right prospects. That’s exactly right! Just in case I haven’t emphasised this point enough, of all the people walking around the planet, they are the people most likely to buy from your online store. And the cheapest way to reach them is email marketing, and you already have their email address!
So what should you do? In a nutshell, email them using the classic direct marketing formula. Therefore, you need to segment your customer base, have a clear proposition, provide a clear response mechanism, and make sure there is a deadline. Here are some simple examples.
“You haven’t visited us in a while. We would love to see you back. Click here to visit our store and receive a 10% discount on your next purchase. This offers ends on 28 August 2013.”
That offer might have gone to people that hadn’t shopped with you for a year. Make the deadline reasonably soon or else it won’t work.
People who needed batteries, cartridges or whatever might receive something like the following.
“A while ago you bought a Grandotastic Masticator from us. We wondered if you needed to re-order some consumables, so we would like to offer you 20% off if you spend more than £50 before 28 August 2013.”
You get the idea…
There are some complexities which include the need to use a third party emailing house to avoid problems with spam filters, presentation issues, black listing and more. You should also read up on good email practice. Time and day of the week can make a big difference, as can the title and sender address. Experiments are the way to go, trying different approaches and measuring the results will drive what you do next.
Beware!
One word of warning is that you can over communicate to the point of irritation. Measurement has the danger that an email might continue to generate business while cheesing off some people that will never buy from you again, ever. It’s certainly happened to me. So maybe a customer survey to check attitudes could guard against this danger.
And finally it’s worth making the point that if you don’t take advantage of this, be assured that your competitors will.
If you have your own examples to share, you’ll find me on .
For more information, visit SellerDeck.co.uk
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