Email is a critical part of the ecommerce anatomy. Email marketing, with 7% of ecommerce user acquisitions, lies second only to search, which enjoys 15.8%.

So, what email marketing factors dominate the most in ecommerce sector?

To STAND OUT, your ecommerce emails need absolute priming to look inch-perfect. Uplers will drive you to a successful ecommerce email marketing session.

So gear up and enjoy the ride!
7

DIVINE FACTORS THAT DOMINATE

ECOMMERCE EMAIL MARKETING

1

Mobile-First

That’s where your customers are

Today, smartphones represent a mammoth part of ecommerce email opens.
An average total of 56% emails are opened on mobile devices.

ecommerce email opens on mobile
  • Mobile
  • Webmail
  • Desktop
Fig. As per more than 1 billion email opens each month tracked by Litmus’ Email Analytics

This surely accounts for a crucial chunk.
Without mobile responsiveness your email campaign will have a missing puzzle piece.

Average total of 56% ecommerce emails are opened on mobile devices.

tweet-logo
2

Subject Line

The Doorway to Sales

It is the soul of your email. The more unique, the more opens.
This is because human psychology partially judges ‘uniqueness’ as creativity, thus creating curiosity.

So, the email open and click rates are directly proportional to the type of subject line and elements used in it.

KEYWORDS

Add life to your ecommerce emails

Email Subject Line

Though many marketers refrain from using certain keywords like 'Free', 'Sale' etc. in their subject lines with the apprehension that their email will land in the spam folder. However, SPAM filters can be triggered for a variety of reasons, the most important being your domain reputation.

Keywords within the subject line plays a role in email deliverability; however, its negligible compared to other factors. To get more information on what factors affects email delivery rate – do check out our infographic on Email Deliverability.

  • FREE DELIVERY
    +35.9% higher Open rate
    +81.3% higher Click rate
    SALE
    save
    +27.8% higher Open rate
    +100.3% higher Click rate
  • sale
    +81.3% higher Open rate
    +26.7% higher Click rate
    FREE
    free
    +27.1% higher Open rate
    +50.6% higher Click rate

Ecommerce emails with 'Free Delivery' in subject line get 35.9% higher
open rates than others.

tweet-logo
symbols

Impactful in ecommerce email subject lines

Symbols are extremely impactful in ecommerce email subject lines.
Though rare to come by as not many marketers use it extensively,
symbols add an extra zing to the email.

Best Symbols Open Rate Worst Symbols Open Rate
symbol-01 +10.65% symbol-04 -8.03%
symbol-02 +65.72% symbol-05 -9.52%
symbol-03 +20.95% symbol-06 -8.10%
SUBJECT LINES that created Magic!
Short, straight & to-the-point

Subject lines that are directly telling what the email is all about have a better chance at being opened, read and clicked.

Subject Line Website Category Open Rate
LAST CALL! http://labellamafiaclothing.com/ Clothing 69.69%
Latest Deals http://www.noblevaping.com/ Electronic cigarettes 51%
You're Welcome http://www.southernfinapparel.com/ Clothing 52.78%
NEW ARRIVALS for the long weekend! http://tulio.com.au/ Clothing 52.34%
Until tomorrow get your GIFT COUPON of $15 http://meemoza.ca/ Clothing 66.42%

Send ecommerce emails at 10AM, as it is the peak time to garner higher opens and clicks.

tweet-logo
4

Incentives & CTA

The irresistible sales-driver

Incentives like coupons, product recommendations or free shipping enhances click-through-rates and
ecommerce conversions. Here’s how incentives in email marketing impact ecommerce.

  • 7 in 10 people say they made use of a coupon or discount from a marketing email in the prior week.
  • Free-Shipping Offer are twice as effective (0.22% – 1.9%) as price-reduction offers (0.1% – 0.8%).
  • Companies invest $76.9 billion annually for incentives & promotions in ecommerce email marketing.

But which one is the most effective?

COUPONS IN ECOMMERCE EMAIL MARKETING
Ecommerce Emails with Coupons Ecommerce Emails without Coupons
Open Rate: 38% Open Rate: 21%
Purchase Rate: 10% Purchase Rate: 3%
Click Rate: 7% Click Rate: 4%

Elements that matter in ECOMMERCE EMAIL CTA

Personalized call-to-actions (CTAs) have 42% higher view-to-submission rate than CTAs that are same for all subscribers. Focus on offering incentives and don’t forget to place the right number of CTAs at the right place.

  • Color
  • Impact Word
  • Urgency
  • Contrast with email body
  • Size
  • Position

Personalized CTAs have 42% higher view-to-submission rate than
CTAs that are same for all subscribers.

tweet-logo
Success stories...

Brafton’s revenue increased by 83% in one month by strategic placement of CTAs in Emails. While ecommerce conversion rate increased by 22% every quarter along with 49% increase in average order value for the blog readers.

Whirlpool achieved a 42% increase in clicks by just reducing the number of CTAs in its email from four to one.

5

Email send Time

It’s all about Optimal Timing!

Most recipients engage with promotional emails in the later part of the day (afternoons and evenings). In fact, most of the commercial emails (17.93%) are sent out on Tuesdays & Wednesdays.

Promotional Emails Sending Time

Note: After 24 hours, an ecommerce email’s chance of being opened drops below 1%.

While late morning times were most popular to send emails, here are the
top 4 best email send time for optimum results:

  • 10AM: It is the peak time to send emails with higher opens and clicks.
  • 2PM: Not a popular time but still manages to get people viewing their emails.
  • 8PM: People check their emails for one last time before calling it a day.
  • 6AM: People check their emails before starting the day.

Most recipients engage with promotional emails in the later part of the day.

tweet-logo
However, studies indicate that sending ecommerce emails to customers too frequently can bother them. Your ecommerce open rates and conversion rates are directly affected by doing so:
Frequency Open Rate Conversion Rate
Once/ month 25.24% 0.27%
Twice/ month 21.80% 0.24%
4-5 Times/ month 18.19% 0.22%
6-7 Times/ month 15.46% 0.18%
9+ times/ month 11.96% 0.12%

This research can certainly help you in triggering emails at the best optimal time. However, there is no magic formula, you will have to test and find out what works best for your industry & brand.

6

Testing

Better be sure than Sorry

49% marketers are actively testing email send time and day. It’s time to kickstart your ecommerce email campaigns if you haven’t begun yet. Some elements in your email require proper testing before sending it out to the masses.

Success stories...
  • HomeAdvisor tested different subject lines and boosted their email-generated revenue by 114%.
  • Dell ran an email A/B test to learn which email template would work best. It resulted into double-digit increase in profit.
7

Automation

The Winning Mantra is to Stay Connected!

Email automation is trending. Most marketers rely on automation to send out emails. Automation allows the marketer to
personalize the email along with keeping in touch with the customer.

Types of Ecommerce Email When to send Why Benefits Tips
Abandonment Email Shortly after they leave your site To bring your prospects back Clearly convey your point along with some more suggestions Quite engaging as it gives you a reason to nudge them
Sale on Wishlist
Items
As soon as the subscribers wishlist item goes on sale Enhances your customer engagement and boosts revenue Allows you to use the customer data much effectively and target the audience on the basis of their product choices Highlight reduced price of the product and keep it to the point
Reorder Email Few days before the product is expected to run out To encourage customers for
re-purchase
Converts one time customers into repeated buyers Make it time-centric and repeatedly remind them about the benefits
Review Email Shortly after the customer has made the purchase Builds brand loyalty and trust Keeps you connected and drives more referrals For more connection, include social network buttons and keep it simple

Email automation is the winning mantra to stay connected with your subscribers.

tweet-logo
Success stories...

Sustainable Software (SustWorks) raised their sales by 25% with email follow-up campaign.

HouseValues designed an automated email system that could follow up leads on timely basis. Company earned 10% of leads from the automatically generated email system for follow ups.

Bonus Tips

Uplers have some divine bonus tips to fuel your holiday ecommerce email conversions this season. To STAND OUT and deliver an engaging email campaign can be a difficult maneuver. But, we are here at your rescue. Adding interactive elements like countdown in ecommerce emails is crucial especially during the holiday season.

  • 1Countdown

    • An effective tool used by most email marketers to help instill urgency for holiday ecommerce sales.
    • Helps build excitement among your audience for a promotional activity.
  • 2Menus

    • Used for new product recommendation and launch.
    • Enhances product cross-selling.
  • 3Sliders/Rotational Banners

    • Shows all aspects of your products/items with much visual effect.
    • Displays different offers and discounts at intervals.
  • 4Scratch & Flip

    • Provides subscribers the leverage to scratch the coupons sent by you and redeem the holiday offer with much ease.
    • Showcases new products and discounts with much more effectiveness.
    • Gets rid of monotonous lengthy paragraphs with flip effect.
  • 5Accordions

    • Say good-bye to email scrolling.
    • Displays various items/products coupled with different information.
    • Provides categorization and different navigation options.
Email Deliverability
  • An average total of 56% emails are opened on mobile devices. So, create responsive emails.
  • Keywords in subject line is crucial for email deliverability, but its negligible as compared to other factors.
  • Ecommerce emails with personalized subject lines have 29% higher open rates.
  • Incentives like coupons, free shipping, etc. enhances ecommerce conversions and CTRs.
  • Ecommerce email success is all about optimal timing. Reach out to your customers at their time (based on their past purchase history).
  • 49% marketers actively test email send time and day to improve conversion rates.
  • Email automation is highly recommended as a winning mantra to stay connected.
  • Create ecommerce email template designs with interactive elements like Countdown, Sliders, Menus and Accordions as they are always a great hit with customers.
Ecommerce Email LookBook

Get our FREE E-BOOK on the some of the most creative Ecommerce emails!

Thank you. Monks have blessed you with Ecommerce Email Marketing Best Practices Lookbook.
Email Design, Email HTML Coding

Uplers design and code flawless emails, newsletter templates, landing pages, and digital assets such as banners.
In addition, we also offer email automation and campaign management services.
To know more, email us at contact@uplers.com or visit email.uplers.com