Email marketing still remains an important tactic in the digital marketer’s toolkit to drive traffic to ecommerce websites, increase engagement and boost sales. Industry research agrees, email marketing is here to stay;

· The number of worldwide email accounts is expected to increase from 3.3 billion accounts in 2012 to over 4.3 billion by year-end 2016. (Radicati Group, Inc)
· The UK market for email marketing platforms and services grew by an estimated 15.5% year-on-year to a value of £388 million by the end of 2011 (Econsultancy)
· The average email user receives 147 messages every day, deletes 71 emails daily and spends more than 2 ½ hours on email a day (Boomerang) 

But what email marketing techniques achieve maximum results for ecommerce? 

Drip Marketing

Drip marketing is the practice of sending a series of pre-written emails at set intervals. The main purpose of drip marketing is to engage with a prospect over a period of time and in doing so, encourage the individual to buy a product. Most email marketing software packages can be programmed to automatically send out several emails over a course of time after the introductory email. A successful drip marketing campaign gradually builds awareness and ultimately wins the customer. 

Re-engage

A recent Forrester survey (Understanding Shopping Cart Abandonment) indicates 88% of web buyers say that they have abandoned an ecommerce shopping cart without completing a transaction. This is the same percentage as five years ago, suggesting that retailers have yet to address cart abandonment and lost sales. Another ecommerce email tactic is to send a series of three emails to re-engage the web buyer. These emails could perhaps include a product the user nearly purchased, a comparison guide with a similar product or an invitation to revisit the website and view the product description page.

You could also re-engage with existing customers who haven’t purchased any of your products in some time. ‘Welcome Back’ promotional emails offering discount or ‘Customer Survey’ emails both work well in these circumstances. 

Segmentation

According to The Email Marketing Industry Census by Econsultancy & Adestra, companies who practice basic segmentation are 95% more likely to rate email return on investment (ROI) as excellent or good compared to those who do not use any form of segmentation.

Segmenting your existing email lists is time consuming but well worth it. For ecommerce lists, organise email addresses into categories based on past purchase history. Create highly targeted email marketing campaigns suitable for each different category. Additional tips to bear in mind when targeting ecommerce segments;

1. Target ‘First Time Purchasers’ by building awareness; product education and entertainment emails will likely inspire first timers to purchase.
2. Offer strong purchase incentives to ‘One Time Purchasers’. Low price guarantees, free shipping or a free product will stimulate ‘One Time Purchasers’ to re-purchase as soon as possible.
3. Cross-selling and up-selling tactics will entice ‘Multiple Time Purchasers’ to re-purchase. Also reward this segment with valuable e-vouchers to thank them for their continued business. Increase the level of targeting and personalisation as the level of loyalty rises.

Try Video

Video is becoming an increasingly important component of ecommerce product marketing. Top e-tailers use video to build brand loyalty, reputation, engage with customers and boost sales. According to eConsultancy, shoppers who view product videos are more likely to add cart than other shoppers.

Don’t be intimated by creating product marketing videos for email marketing campaigns. Microsoft Movie Maker and Apple iMovie are free editing software packages that are surprisingly simple to use. As for the video theme, ask a well known face to endorse your products or involve your customers in the brand by getting them to speak about your products. Customer testimonials and brand endorsement work extremely well in video, as do product demos. Online buyers want to see a product in use before they can make an informed decision. Other successful videos for email campaigns include event coverage and special announcements.

Special Offers

Within an email marketing campaign, you can surprise your existing database with special offers, over stocked item blowouts and newly released products. Send a one off email to promote various products or set up a weekly/monthly email campaign showcasing ‘Products of the Week/Month’. Direct each product image with an inserted link to its specific product page on your website. This call to action encourages sales by making the buying process as simple as possible – only a few clicks away from email to checkout. Word of warning though; try not to spam your database with special offers until the users hits unsubscribe!

Ecommerce & Email Marketing at The Web Bureau

To find out more about E-commerce and Email Marketing visit www.thewebbureau.com. Alternatively, contact us on 028 9073 1190 or email info@thewebbureau.com

A Belfast candle company has been blown over with an incredible 1500% increase in site traffic as it cashes in on record online Christmas sales.

YouTube is now considered to be the second largest search engine after Google. With over 90 million unique monthly visitors and an average monthly view time of 54 hours per user, this platform is better for marketers than ever before.

It’s therefore surprising that YouTube is sometimes overlooked by businesses when considering an Internet Marketing strategy. Videos only take a few minutes to upload and the results can be significant yet many businesses in Northern Ireland seem to be missing out on YouTube’s online marketing value. YouTube can visibly promote your product or service in a creative way, but it is also a valuable tool for Search Engine Optimisation and analytics:

Search Engine Optimisation Value

Google puts high SEO importance on video content. With little effort your videos can easily out-rank competitor websites, top directories and article sites, often appearing on the first page. Google owns YouTube, so this alone increases its SEO value but there is also much opportunity to include links, tags and keywords in the description section.

YouTube Ads

The promoted video feature on Youtube brings the power of search advertising with keyword-based targeting. YouTube Promoted Videos work on the same basis as Google Adwords but are much better value for money. Target your video campaign with keywords and pay only when someone clicks to watch your video. This will drive potential customers to your videos where a ‘call to action’ overlay will link back to your website.

Analytics

Take advantage of YouTube’s Insights, an analytics tool that provides information such as demographics, abandonment rate, re-winds and fast-forwards. YouTube Insights will identify the exact point viewers leave your video and which scenes within the video are proving to be most popular.

Going Viral

48 hours of video content is loaded to YouTube every minute, therefore viral video marketing is in fact very difficult to achieve. Forget ‘going viral’ and think quality, not quantity. It’s important to focus on targeting your video to the correct market. A high number of visits isn’t as important as reaching the right customers. 

If you’re serious about using YouTube as an internet marketing tool, then do your research. Find your niche, discover what’s hot, identify current video trends and recognise good ideas for video content.

Online Market Research

Test your audience before your video goes live by running two different unlisted videos backed by search ads to determine which one gets the best response. An unlisted video will not appear on any of YouTube’s public spaces. Only people with a link to the video will be able to view it.

The comments box below your video can be used as online focus group testing. These comments will provide valuable insight into the products or services you’re promoting. Interact with viewers by answering comments or enquiries about your videos. This will not only create creditability but also encourages viewers to return leaving new comments, ratings and more views.

For more information on YouTube marketing and seo, contact us on info@thewebbureau.com