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Do I Need An Email Platform For My Online Business?
1000% yes. There is no question that email is still a powerful and absolutely necessary force for a well-rounded marketing strategy. “Well I don’t like email” and “we just don’t know what to talk about” aren’t valid excuses for any legitimate business. Whether you personally don’t subscribe to emails or just hate inbox clutter doesn’t really matter when we look at the data. Klaviyo reports that email on average constitutes around 27% of eCommerce total revenue for major retailers.In our experience, we see it average around 25-35% of monthly revenue when done right.
How Do We Get Started On Collecting Emails For Our Business?
Well, to be able to send emails, you’ll need to have emails. For eCommerce websites, it’s common place to send emails to recent purchasers. However, this can be a little bit of a gray area, so it’s best to ensure you don’t take advantage of sending emails to anyone who purchased from you ever, or you might get into dangerous unsubscribe territory.Another great option is a website popup and opt-in form. Google actually announced in 2016 that it would penalize websites that utilized intrusive popups and technically this remains true through today. Yet, the cost-benefit analysis makes risking a ding in SEO for gathering more emails totally worth it. To avoid being overly intrusive and ensure you get people to bite, we recommend:
- Ensuring that popup isn’t immediate upon getting to a website (create a delay)
- That the brand and website is still semi-visible behind the popup (so users don’t think they’ve been catfished
- Keeping the popup simple and worthwhile. I.e. make sure there’s an incentive for the user to join like 10% off, a free eBook, access to deals, or valuable content from your newsletter.
- Keep it on brand!
As far as popups are concerned, we prefer to use JustUno because of its easy integration with email platforms, robust options during setup, and easy to use interface. It can also create unique coupon codes per user if that’s something you’re interested in.
Ok, So We’re Gathering Emails So What Now?
Well, good news is that whatever email platform you’ve chosen typically makes it easy to export your contacts into a new one if needed, so you’re not locked in if you want to change. Your next step is creating some automated campaigns, cleaning up your abandoned cart email, and crafting some templates for weekly or monthly newsletters. While some of these features most email platforms will have, not all platforms are created equal.
What’s The Best Email Platform For Shopify & eCommerce?
In our opinion, there’s no contest here. The best email platform for eCommerce is Klaviyo. We sought out being a Klaviyo Advisor because we knew we’d be recommending people to them. Klaviyo’s potency comes in that it’s an email platform specifically created for eCommerce. We ourselves unfortunately can’t really use it because we don’t sell anything online. But with it, our clients have seen startling opportunities that didn’t exist with other platforms.
Klaviyo aggregates a crazy amount of user behavior and purchase data.
Klaviyo compiles website behavior, email behavior, purchase behavior, and more. It also creates easy to understand reports on how a lot of these data points tie in together. The best part? You don’t have to sift through it all. Klaviyo comes with some out of the box email flows that you just need to customize for your brand imagery and messaging.
The really cool part of Klaviyo, especially when it comes to integrating with stores like Shopify, is the option to insert dynamic user-specific content like product view behavior and abandoned carts. This means you can customize emails for each user rather than send out generic content. This is what makes the difference in selecting this platform.
We Can’t Afford Email Right Now
You can’t afford NOT to be utilizing email right now. Many platforms have a free tier to try out. This is one of the cheapest platforms in terms of digital marketing spend AND you get a huge amount of control of the how, when, where, who, why. Other platforms don’t always give you these options.
I will admit that Klaviyo isn’t the cheapest option. Not by a longshot. But the power-user features and the increase in revenue you’ll see from having a more seamless email campaign more than makes up for any additional cost.
Do you really want to be leaving money on the table that could be making up 35% of your monthly revenue? Another way to ask this, do you want to increase your monthly sales by potentially more that 20% by doing nothing more than talking to people who are already interested in you?
Where Does The Additional Money Come From?
Ok, your website looks great, your SEO is on lock, your customer service is fantastic, so where does the extra money come from? Frankly, it comes from giving a crap.
Reactivate Previous Customers
Don’t forget about your previous customers! If you’re not talking to them, they’re forgetting about you. If they’re forgetting about you, they’re not recommending you to other people. They’re also not buying from you. When I’ve worked with companies whose sales have flatlined or gone stagnant, it’s because they stopped paying attention to the people who brought them to where they are today. New customer acquisition should not be your only goal as an online store. Repeat purchasers can easily make up 20% or more of your monthly revenue. What do we talk to them about, we don’t have any new products. Well, that’s perhaps a discussion for another time, but here are some ideas.
New Product Launches
Tease new launches. Are you doing a holiday themed version of a best seller? Let them know via email. Do your customers want to see something specific from your brand? Ask them.
Upsells & Upgrades
This is a no brainer. Customer bought product X, maybe they’ll like product Y. If your brand centers around a few main products, accent those products with upsell opportunities. Some easy examples would be stickers, pins, branded apparel, upgrades, etc. A strong email platform makes making these types of connections painless.
Charities & Giving Back
Now more than ever people love brands that stand for something. If you’re active in your community or support non-profits, let people know!
Industry & Product Updates
Have you increased the quality of your product? Are you kicking ass because you love your customers so much? Document and report!
SMS Campaigns: I.e. Text Message Marketing (opt-in only)
Oh, and did we mention Klaviyo recently added SMS to their platform? Truth be told, you have to be creative when it comes to getting SMS opt-ins and producing valuable SMS content, but when SMS open rates are in the 90th percentile…it doesn’t hurt to give it a try. Only thing to be aware of is that TCPA violations are no joke. If you don’t have a confirmed opt-in, expect heavy fines if they ever find out.
Summary
With email marketing you can make more money, have more consistent monthly revenue, and build better momentum by staying top of mind with new and old customers alike. Email can create more touchpoints, enhance your branding, reactivate lapsed customers, encourage a higher lifetime value or next order value, build your unique selling proposition further, and pick at low hanging fruit (abandoned carts). Don’t miss out, make sure you’re making the most of the people who want to hear from you.