At its core, the objective of e-commerce marketing is to convince an existing or potential customer to convert, thereby generating revenue. In the e-commerce sphere, this usually involves making a purchase. Simple … right?
The most effective way to encourage these conversions is through customer lifecycle marketing, in which we tailor specific email marketing campaigns to buyers depending on what stage of the purchasing journey they’re on. Effectively leveraging email in your customer lifecycle marketing strategy not only makes use of data and marketing resources to generate a high ROI, it provides the best possible outcomes to our customers.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the types of customers we’ll encounter and what kinds of emails will help us reach them.
New Prospect
A welcome campaign email will typically return over 300% of the revenue of other email campaigns so it’s important to strike while the iron is hot!
A good welcome email will include a CTA directing the buyer to your e-commerce site and potentially an incentive in the form of a discount or promotional code, links to social media accounts, or even a specific social media campaign to see how other customers are interacting with products.
These emails can even be customized according to the landing page or channel the prospect was generated from. Retargeted display ads are also useful early on in the purchasing process and can help get your brand in front of the customer again. It resonated with your prospect once, why not twice?
Think about: thank yous, discounts, how-tos
Abandoned Cart
We all know the irritating feeling of being really hungry and watching the waiter bring out the dish you ordered, walk right past you, and put it on someone else’s table. The e-commerce marketing equivalent is someone who has abandoned their e-shopping cart.
A common-sense reason for reaching out to an abandoner would be to send an email urging them to complete the purchase they started and that is a good e-commerce objective. $260 billion dollars per year stand to be gained from optimized check-out processes from large-size companies alone. Try sending three different emails at intervals after the cart has been abandoned to make sure your customer receives a variety of reminders and incentives to return. These can include a simple reminder with a call to action, an offer to connect with customer service, or a discount code.
On top of this salvageable revenue, abandoners can also provide a crucial insight into pain points for all purchasers, e.g., confusing copy or design on the purchase page, expensive shipping rates, etc. Leverage this by including a feedback or customer service option in your abandonment email campaign (just remember to record and use that data from your customer experience team) and, as always, test your emails. Test, test, test.
Think about: cart contents, offer of assistance, UVP
New Buyer
A new buyer has some similarities to a new prospect with one obvious and critical difference: they have already acted on their intent to make a purchase. If they weren’t a prospect before, you’ll want to initiate a post-purchase welcome email campaign, containing some of the same brand introduction and social media links you included in the new prospect welcome campaign above.
However, you will most likely have more data for this customer than you would for a new prospect. This allows you to use their acquisition channel, site interactions, purchased items, geographic information, and more to make personalized recommendations and tailor your content to spur additional purchases. Take note that it’s important to look across these segments to get the most accurate picture of your customer. It might make sense to suggest a snow shovel to someone who just bought mittens, right? Unless they live in Florida. Similarly, electing a gift wrap option might make you think twice about whether that purchase reflects the buyer’s own product preferences. If you have the data, use it.
Think about: surveys, how-tos, recommendations
VIP Customer
If the aforementioned purchase follow-up works its magic, you may end up with a VIP on your hands. A Very Important Purchaser is a loyal, regular buyer who adheres to your expected purchase frequency and value. However, once you gain one of these customers, they don’t become a perpetual motion machine that spews hundred dollar bills. You need to keep them feeling engaged and appreciated. Your VIP recognition campaign can be based on any number of factors including number of purchases, value of purchases, value or number over a designated time period, your most recent buyers, and so on. Think about the structure of your particular business when identifying what constitutes a VIP.
After doing so, work out what motivates this segment of your customers. If exclusivity is important to them, you might consider offering opportunities to pre-order new items. If they’re looking for a good value, a loyalty program or regular discounts would be appropriate. Retention is arguably the most important stage in e-commerce CLM. It’s a general marketing best practice in almost every industry that retaining an existing customer is easier and more cost-effective than gaining a new one. Repeat buyers represent a massive, nearly bottomless source of revenue so it’s important to dedicate appropriate resources to make sure they keep coming back.
Think about: rewards, exclusive offers, surveys
Lapsed Buyer
Despite our best efforts, a few customers may fall off at each stage of their journey. These customers can represent significant revenue and it’s worth investing time and marketing resources in recapturing some of these losses, particularly for repeat customers. A successful “win-back” campaign can engage (or re-engage, as it were) 10%+ of its recipients.
The timing of this campaign, as with the other campaigns we’ve discussed, is just as important as the content. For example, if most of your repeat buyers purchase from you again within 60 days, you may want to send out a reminder email at 61 days or set push notifications on your e-commerce app after a certain length of time.
Lastly, at risk of sounding like a broken record, leverage any data you have on your user. Are they active on your site or has it been a while since their last visit? Were they previously a VIP or did they only purchase from you once? Do they frequent part of your website outside of the shop, like a blog? What opportunities do you have to customize the copy of your email? If applicable, are they shopping with you in-person instead of online?
Note that recovering lost revenue from lapsed buyers is the main objective of a reactivation campaign but it can also be useful for determining why these customers lapsed and helping you brainstorm preventive measures to keep current repeat buyers on track.
Think about: discounts, how-tos, targeted items, giveaways (“enter-to-win”s)
Lastly …
A customer may experience every single one of these stages during their time with you, so make sure you view this lifecycle holistically. User research is paramount to aligning your offers with the needs of your customer base. Invest in a tool that allows you to get the most out of your email and site data and supplement that wherever possible with customer interviews and other forms of qualitative feedback. Both will be crucial to building an email marketing strategy that will delight, engage, and convert your customers — and keep them coming back.
