You might be surprised to learn that you have extra profit to the tune of 5-10% of your current bottom line just sitting in a database somewhere.
We’re referring to your email list. For businesses—especially ecommerce companies—your email database has enormous potential for increasing sales and customers.
How do you capitalize on that potential and turn that database into profit? After years of working with small businesses, we’ve developed an ecommerce process that we’ve seen grow sales by 5-10% within 30-60 days. And we’re sharing that with you today.
E Commerce Process
- Strategize
Strategize the emails you’ll be sending out and understand what you want your ultimate offer to be. For example: a new product you’re releasing, increasing sales for a popular product, getting referrals, getting reviews, etc. - Create a schedule
Determine whether you’ll send out emails weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Email marketing scheduling looks different for everyone depending on the products you’re selling and the demographic you’re selling to. For example: If you’re selling products and often run deals with X percentage off of those products, then you’ll want to send out your emails weekly. Users will anticipate and look for the next good deal.Start off warm, be informative about your products, and be subtle on the ask. If you’ve not been consistently communicating with your database list, you can’t just jump into asking them to buy your products—even if they are current customers.
- Refine your ask:
Part of strategizing is determining what you’ll ask and when you’ll offer incentives to your existing database. Below are a few examples of specific requests you can make of your email subscribers as well as what you can offer them.Reviews
Requests for reviews should be automated and sent to users after a sale. If your product takes 3-5 days to be delivered, you’ll also need to factor in the time it takes for the user to determine if your product was good for them or not.Example 1: If you sell jewelry, it’s good to have an automated email go out 1-3 days after the customer receives it.
Example 2: If your product is cosmetic and it may take your customer a week or so to see results, then you want to send them an automated email 7-10 days after they receive it.
Referral
Let’s make this simple. You’re asking your customer to be a salesperson for you. How can you encourage them to do so in order to receive some sort of incentive? After all, no one is going to do anything for free. Make it sound enticing. Make it feel easy for them to receive a reward.Example 1: Want to receive an extra $25? Refer a friend and we’ll give you $25 off your next purchase.
Example 2: Refer a friend and you both get X% off your next purchase.
Discount off of a product
People want your products. You already know this. But people also love a good deal.
If your offer is limited, you want to persuade potential customers to hurry and buy. By saying that your most popular product is 30% off to the first 100 buyers, you will create a sense of urgency.Have you ever seen a popular music artist have a concert and when the email is released, people rush to buy? That’s because seats are limited and it’s First Come, First Served. While you may not be Taylor Swift or Drake, you can still create the same effect.
Example: Buy 1 Get 1 for 7 days only! Hurry now before we’re sold out.
Your Buy 1 Get 1 sale should not be too long. If you want it to last for 60 days, divide it up into 7-10 day increments. That way, if people don’t do it the first time and time runs out, they’ll have FOMO the next time around.
Remember, the strategy behind discounts isn’t just to provide a special rate, it’s to drive sales quickly within a short period of time.
Give them a reason to act NOW, and not later.
Getting started
Turning your email database into profit is possible, but it takes a strategic approach. If you have questions about the process outlined above, or need support on developing an email marketing strategy for your ecommerce business, contact us for a free strategy call.