Declarations of the death of email have been greatly exaggerated. The technology has persisted for more than 50 years, evolving and adapting over time. Although your office may have shifted toward real-time communication apps like Slack, you’re probably still sending tons of emails—and email campaigns remain a huge part of ecommerce marketing.
“In my inbox right now, I will have hundreds of promotional messages and email campaigns from companies I’ve purchased from in the past,” says Neil Hoyne, chief strategist for data and measurement at Google, on the Shopify Masters podcast. Anyone who shops online can relate. The challenge for businesses, then, is standing out in a crowded inbox. Learn how to create email marketing campaigns of your own.
What is an email campaign?
An email campaign is a marketing strategy that involves sending an email or series of emails to multiple recipients. An email campaign typically has a specific objective; it might announce a new product or service, entice customers to take advantage of a promotion, welcome new customers, provide educational content, or raise brand awareness.
How to execute an email campaign
- Gather customer data
- Create a buyer persona
- Decide what type of campaign to run
- Set up email automation
- Run A/B tests
Here’s how to build a successful email campaign:
1. Gather customer data
To send emails, you need email addresses. One popular way to collect data like email addresses is by offering a discount code to new subscribers in exchange for their personal information. This is also a good time to ask for their name, which you can then use to personalize the emails they receive. Thoughtful, personalized emails can go a long way toward helping your email campaign stand out.
“The research supports that adding somebody’s first name into the subject line of an email significantly improves the likelihood that they will open that email,” Neil says. “Yet in my inbox right now, no company, despite having my name, actually uses that data to build a better relationship.”
2. Create a buyer persona
Your emails will be more successful if they speak directly to your target audience and complement your other marketing efforts. “Good content is always created for a couple of people, not for everybody,” marketing expert Nik Sharma told Shopify Masters.
“I’m always writing for three people,” Nik says. “One is like a founder who has no money but needs to make moves in marketing. One is the CMO of a company that’s doing $50 million or more in revenue. And the third is an investor of an early stage company.”
The more specific your buyer persona is, the easier it will be to write compelling emails and subject lines that engage the customer you want to speak to.
3. Decide what type of campaign to run
With your buyer persona in mind, think of what type of messages your subscribers would like to read. A welcome series that highlights your brand story? An exclusive discount code? A post-purchase email explaining how they can get the most out of their new product?
If you use Shopify Email, you can choose from different email templates for basic campaigns, including abandoned cart emails and welcome series.
4. Set up email automation
Email marketing automation is a strategy whereby your email service provider (ESP) automatically sends a pre-drafted email to a list of contacts based on specific triggers. You can set up an automation to email clients after they buy their first product, sign up for your newsletter, or leave an item unpurchased in their cart for a set amount of time.
Of course, you can also send emails manually, but most marketers choose to automate their emails to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their campaigns. Unless your business is very small, the number of marketing emails you need to send can be overwhelming.
Email service providers that offer email marketing automation include Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and Shopify Email.
5. Run A/B tests
Want to know what’s working and what isn’t? Try A/B testing.
Email A/B testing is one way to measure the success of different variables, like your subject line or the color of your call-to-action (CTA) button, using email marketing metrics like click-through rate (CTR), i.e., the percentage of users who click a link in an email they receive.
Here’s how A/B testing works: Send one version of your email campaign to one segment of your email list and a different version to another segment. The version with the higher click-through rate (or conversions, or whatever you’re measuring) is the winner and the one you send to the rest of your email list.
With A/B testing, every email campaign becomes an opportunity to learn more about your customers’ preferences and inform your email marketing strategy.
Types of email marketing campaigns
- Cart abandonment emails
- Educational emails
- Promotional emails
- Seasonal campaign emails
- Welcome emails
There are endless options for running effective email marketing campaigns. Most fall under transactional emails (“Thank you for your order”) or announcement emails (“Try our new body lotion”). Here are some successful email marketing campaign examples.
Cart abandonment emails
Abandoned cart emails can serve as a simple reminder or as an opportunity to convince your customers that they should come back to buy your product by highlighting the abandoned product’s features or addressing potential concerns. Another strategy is to offer an incentive, such as free shipping or a discount code.
Include a picture of the items left behind and a link that takes shoppers directly back to the shopping cart. Here’s an example of a cart-abandonment email from the homewares store Coming Soon:
Email subject line: “Did you forget something?”
Coming Soon’s abandoned cart email keeps things simple with the store’s logo at the top and a short message about the forgotten item. The CTA button is a link to the items in the cart, and there’s a picture of the item.
Educational emails
If you want to keep your subscribers engaged, send relevant educational content. If you’re in the food and beverage space, send recipes. If you run a fashion brand, show customers how they can style your pieces.
Educational emails don’t have to be text-heavy. This email from the home goods brand Quiet Town prominently features striking images.
Email subject line: “Renting? Let this bathroom inspire you.”
This email from Quiet Town shows how you can use its bathroom accessories to add personality to a rental. The first half of the email is on a purple background and tells one renter’s story. It’s not immediately clear which products are from Quiet Town, giving the email more of an editorial feel. The second half is on a white background and highlights the Quiet Town items with CTA buttons for shopping.
Promotional emails
A promotional email campaign offers a discount code or sale to email subscribers. For example, this simple promotional email from clothing designer Ilana Kohn features photographs of the on-sale clothing and a promotional code on a basic white background.
Email subject line: “Up to 70% off prints and more”
Notice that “70% off” is near the beginning of the email subject line to entice readers. The body of the email presents the on-sale items.
Seasonal campaign emails
A seasonal email campaign uses current trends and events to highlight relevant content from your brand. For example, you might send a Valentine’s Day gift guide in late January or early February. A content calendar can help you plan around seasonal events, and it’s also important to keep up with current events in case a trending piece of news is relevant to your product.
This seasonal campaign email from dog clothing company Little Beast capitalizes on current events, using a weather event to advertise its dog apparel.
Email subject line: “Bundle Up Your Pup! The Cold Front is Coming”
The body of the email explains that “a big cold front is sweeping across much of the USA” and urges readers, “Don’t wait until the storm comes and your pup starts shivering. Get them something warm now.”
Welcome emails
A welcome email is the first email a new customer receives after purchasing a product or signing up for a newsletter. Welcome emails typically include a message of thanks and a few lines describing your brand’s story or philosophy. Many sites offer a discount code in exchange for signing up for their email newsletter. If that’s the case, include a promotional code in your welcome email.
A welcome email might include information like estimated ship times and how to use or care for the new product. You can also encourage new customers to produce user-generated content by providing a hashtag for social media sharing. If you have a referral or customer loyalty program, mention it in your welcome email.
Email marketers often split elements of the welcome email into a series of messages. The first email goes out the moment the customer makes a purchase, and the second goes out once the product arrives to ensure everything is as expected. Several days later, you might send a testimonial request email.
Here’s an example of a welcome email with a discount code from clothing company hai:
Email subject line: “Welcome to hai!”
Hai lets its signature silk pieces speak for themselves with a large promotional image. Its logo also features prominently. This welcome email includes a discount code for 10% off a future purchase, and the CTA button urges customers to “shop now.”
Email campaigns FAQ
Are email campaigns worth it?
Email marketing can have a strong return on investment (ROI). Successful email marketing campaigns can encourage customers who have abandoned their carts to complete their purchases, build relationships with new customers, and encourage shopping during promotional periods.
Do email campaigns cost money?
Email campaigns cost money, but they don’t have to be expensive. Email marketing automation comes standard with some email providers, like Shopify Email. If your business is large, consider hiring a dedicated email marketer or agency.
What makes an email campaign effective?
A successful email marketing campaign grabs a reader’s attention with an engaging, personalized subject line. The body of the email delivers on the promises made in the subject line, and the content is compelling to the target audience.
