What We’ve Learned in 10+ Years of Ecommerce Email Marketing

Since 2010, we have partnered with two of the country’s largest furniture and home goods retailers to build and produce their robust email marketing programs, including writing, designing, and coding of more than 1,300 emails per year. Through close collaboration with the client and continually testing new creative, we have been able to drastically increase sales year after year.

A Few Key Stats:

• Write, design, and code more than 100 emails each month
• Creative for 9 targeted audiences
• Send over 60 million emails each month

With this experience in mind, we wanted to set out the principles that guide our approach for these as well as other email clients. Whether marketing a retail business, cultural institution or nonprofit, these principles can help make any email program successful.

Keep It Concise (But Never Boring)

Customers’ attention is fleeting. Plus, most people get more emails than they can read in a given day. That’s why it is so important to ensure your emails 1) clearly communicate your offer or story, 2) do it beautifully, and 3) make it easy for people to take action.

Consider Context

When we’re planning an email, we start by thinking about the action we are trying to achieve. Do we want people to shop a sale? Do we want them to be interested in a new product line? Do we want them to RSVP for an event?

This answer determines how we write and design the email. A huge annual sale isn’t the time for longform copy. In the same way, introducing a new collection benefits from a bit of storytelling. If you’re having a great sale, tell people right away. If you have a great story to tell, give readers enough to hook them, and drive them to a landing page to read more.

Evolve Constantly

While we have a number of successful layout styles we start designing from, we’re always thinking beyond “templates”. Each message and design should be crafted to hit our specific goals, and that’s something that’s not going to be achieved with static templates. This also relates to our editorial calendar and ensuring that we are providing customers with enough variety of content and design to keep them interested and opening each email.

Don’t Overlook Subject Lines (or Pre-header Text)

This seems like an obvious one, but so many companies treat subject lines as an afterthought. The two questions we always ask are, 1) Is this interesting enough for someone to open? And 2) Does it connect well to the email creative? From there, we test constantly so we know what types of subject lines do best for each type of message. Pre-headers (the text that shows up in your inbox preview after the subject line) are a great way to create a bridge from the subject line to the email content.

Embrace Automation

Triggered messages like a Welcome Series, Abandoned Cart emails, and Browse Abandonment emails are an easy way to bolster daily sales and keep customers engaged. These are simple to set up, but should be monitored and refreshed often to ensure they are delivering results.

Never Get Complacent

The work we’ve done for our clients has changed dramatically over the years, and continues to do so. Just because something worked once does not mean it will continue to do so. Consumers’ needs and competitive landscapes are always changing, and our communications need to evolve to address these.

These guiding principles were gleaned from work on large national retailers, but they apply to email programs of all sizes. With thoughtful planning and strong creative, it’s possible to build any email program into one delivers strong results and builds a base of loyal customers.

Interested in hearing more? Let’s talk.